jenny's limp weight is beginning to slow the star man. he hears the bullhorn but doesn't stop.
a deep shadow on the other side of an elm offers a likely hiding place. he moves through the underbrush toward it. without warning, his feet begin to slip out from under him. he struggles to regain his balance.
shermin, his people and the patrolmen are combing the woods with flashlights in a picketline search. the third driver stops at the mouth of a clearing that runs between the cottonwood and elm to the cliff. he takes a bite off a block of chewing tobacco.
standing on the rim of the gorge, the star man sees the rays of his pursuers' flashlights choking off any possible escape. he eases jenny to the ground behind a boulder. she whimpers with the pain.
the patrolmen, the technicians and shermin all hit the ground and kill their lights.