and he can telephone somebody and they can use the radio and
tell the patrol where you are. Oh! Andy--where are you--? Hurry--"

She was going again, and as quickly as he could he told her of the river
and the jungle, and where approximately the ship had been just before
the crash. Then she was gone and he closed his eyes and let the waves of
near-hysterical relief wash over him. He was exhausted, the strain of
long concentration had drained his strength, but he could almost feel
the nerve ends in his dead body tingling with the exhilaration that sang
in his mind. It was the miracle he hadn't dared pray for. It would be
the greatest miracle ever performed, and he had almost lost it, almost
killed it, almost thrown it away. But Elsie-- He prayed feverishly now,
thanking, thanking, and praying for the miracle to really happen and for
Elsie and his son to be all right.

* * * * *

Then the wind was roaring blackly in his ears and the wind was turning
into a shrieking demon and above it he could hear her wild scream: "They
don't believe me! They say I'm delirious. Andy! They're coming with
something to put me to sleep. They don't believe me, Andy ..."

It ended. The wind stopped abruptly with her voice. The only things Andy
Larson could hear were the blood pounding in his head and the grating of
insects singing their last to the approaching dawn. It was all over, and
he closed his eyes to the lightening sky. It was all over, the miracle
was dead, the miracle never was, he was dead, he never was. Elsie-- He
rocked his head back and forth, wanting to cry, to curse and shout out
his hatred of life. But nothing would come out, nothing was left.

It was all over. He lay under his memorial, a junk pile of twisted
metal, inching his way toward death, the abortion of an abortive
miracle, alone, tearless, wifeless, sonless, helpless.

A faint hum drifted to his ears. He looked up, wondering that the dawn
had come so soon. The sky was brilliant with light, but still he could
not see the patrol ship, knew that it couldn't see him, no matter how
close the hum got.

The hum came closer and closer, grew louder, and then he heard her soft
laugh and the hum faded away.

"Andy? Aren't you coming?"

He stared at the sky, his eyes bulging, his tongue swollen in his
throat. He couldn't see anything, the light was so bright. He thought he
must be dreaming--he had heard that people had strange visions when