The Doom from Planet 4
By Jack Williamson
"S O S. S O S. S O S." Three short, three long, three short, the flashes winked from the dark headland. Dan McNally, master and owner of the small and ancient trading schooner, Virginia, caught the feeble flickering light from the island as he strode across the fore-deck. He stopped, stared at the looming black line of land beneath the tropical stars. Again light flashed from a point of rock far above the dim white line of phosphorescent surf, spelling out the signal of distress.
A ray of fire, green, mysterious, stabs through the night to Dan on his ship. It leads him to an island of unearthly peril.
"Somebody bane callin' with a flashlight, I t'ank," the big Swede, Larsen, rumbled from the wheel.