But something nagged him. What he had done wasn’t enough. Kitty was out there alone in the woods. Cavanaugh might come pounding on the trailer door at any moment. He had to tell them ... tell them ... tell them what? Why, where he was, and what was happening, naturally!
He jerked himself upright and started tearing at the mass of wiring that ran to the light beam modulator. Finally he got down to the heavy insulated lead-in wires ... tore them loose.
The beam illuminating the village died away.
He slapped the leads together. The light blinked on.
“SOS,” he heliographed in Morse code remembered from Scouting field trips. “SOS. May Day. May Day.”
Surely somebody at Window Rock would know the code. Certainly Ralph did. He repeated the international distress calls again and again.
“SOS. May Day!” he spelled out, his cold fingers making many mistakes. “Sandy Steele and Kitty on the Rock. Cavanaugh trying to kill us. Send help. SOS. May Day! Sandy Steele and Kitty on the Rock. Cavanaugh....”
He fell forward across the console.
The smash of some heavy object against the door brought him back to semi-consciousness.
“Stop that!” Cavanaugh was yelling. “Stop it or I will kill you. Stop it. Stop it!” The man sounded completely insane now.