There had to be, Rick thought. There had to be some way. The
loud-speaker sounded again, paging a Senor Alvarez. Rick sat bolt
upright. Why not use a loud-speaker?

"Listen," he said excitedly. "If the government radio station has a
loud-speaker system, or can make one, we can put it in my plane. I can
fly the governor over the troops and he can talk to them direct. My
plane can go slowly enough, and low enough for that!"

"How about power supply?" Scotty asked.

"There must be an inverter on the island somewhere. We can use
automobile batteries, and the inverter will give us 110 AC for a while,
until the batteries run down. Just twenty minutes of power would be
enough and we can get that with enough batteries!"

Scotty chuckled. "The Brant approach," he said. "There always is one.
How about it, Captain?"

"We will try," Montoya said decisively. "You have not eaten?... Then do
so, while I make a phone call to the radio station. I have had coffee
and rolls, and perhaps there will be time to join you for more breakfast
while the radio engineers get the equipment together."

The boys were just finishing ham and eggs when Montoya returned. There
was a broad smile on his tired face.

"The engineers say it can be done. They have a portable loud-speaker
system, and there is an inverter, as you call it, at the transmitter.
What is this inverter?"

"It's an electric generator," Rick explained. "Battery current turns it,
and it produces 110-volt alternating current. But inverters aren't very
efficient, and they take a lot of battery current. That's why we'll need
as many batteries as we can carry."

"The chief radio engineer said he understood exactly what was needed. He
will gather the materials and meet us at the airport. Now, I think we
have time for coffee, and perhaps I can follow your example with ham and
eggs. It will take an hour for the equipment to be ready. Also, I called
my uncle. He will be waiting for our call."

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Scotty asked.

Montoya smiled. "Sleep? I have forgotten what it is. But perhaps if this
plan of yours works, I will remember, eh? Then I can sleep tonight."

A check with the hotel desk told Rick that the scientists had left word
that they were not to be disturbed until later in the morning except for
an emergency. They had worked a good part of the night, apparently with
no satisfactory results.

The boys waited until Ricardo Montoya had breakfasted, t