It's warmer; Joly takes off his overcoat and one of his scarves. The cats scamper about to the end of their leashes. Joly tries the watches; nothing happens to show that any transmission is coming.

...There's sand. And flagstones. The compass spins.

Joly tries the watch again; a weird burst of something like music comes through,but with instruments he doesn't recognize, then fades out.

...It's a very nice field to be wandering through. Still.

" I don't see how they could have gotten this far before us with no sign, do you?"

It's idle talk, really. He won't start fretting properly for another half hour at least. But idle talk would help.