As soon as Madison finished speaking, a blood-curdling cry was raised from the southeast. Isak snapped to attention, glaring resolutely in the direction from which the call had come. After a few moments, when the hairs on his neck lay flat again, he look back to Madison, who was likely in the same state of shock. His mind jumped between possible reasons for such a wail and all of them seemed to involve dying horribly on an uninhabited island, hundreds of miles from anyone who ever knew him. These unpleasant thoughts were exceedingly difficult to ignore, but Isak managed to pull together some rational part of himself and convince it not to jump to conclusions. He exchanged a worried glance with Madison and indicated the direction of the sound's source before creeping through the undergrowth toward the commotion.

Isak stayed within the cover of the vegetation until he saw the man who he assumed to be the source of the screeching. Well, he wasn't being horribly murdered by some great tropical beast, which was a good start. Isak looked back partly to see if he could track his way back to the clearing, partly to see if Madison had followed him. He didn't see her, but he'd left a wide trail in the brush to trace his way back to the clearing. Isak mustered his courage and stepped out onto the beach and hailed the man - it was Charlie, the ship's steward. He didn't know him closely, but being on the crew together meant they were somewhat acquainted.

"Mr. Rosenburg," shouted Isak, "Are you all right? Do you know what all this shouting was about?" Isak thought for a moment, then followed with, "Have you met any more survivors? Are you injured?"