three of the seamen, and may have wounded one or two others.
However, the effect on their morale would be disastrous - especially coming so soon after Chubby’s onslaught. Once they reached the safety of the crash boat, I guessed that the forces of evil would debate long and hard before setting foot on the island again. We had won the second round decisively, but they still had Sherry North. That was the major trump in their hands. As long as they held her they could dictate the course of the game.
Chubby was waiting for me amongst the rocks on the saddle of the peak. The man was indestructible.
“Jesus, Harry, where the hell you been?“he growled. “I’ve been waiting here all morning.”
I saw that he had retrieved my haversack. from the cleft in the rocks where I had left it. It lay with two captured AK47 rifles and bandoliers of ammunition at his feet.
He handed me the water bottle, and only then did I realize how thirsty I was. The heavily chlorinated water tasted like Veuve Clicquot, but I rationed myself to three swallows.
“I got to apologize to you, Harry. I had a go. just couldn’t help it, man. They were bunched up and standing out in the open like a Sunday-school picnic. just couldn’t help myself, gave them a good old squirt. Dropped two of them and the others run like hens, shooting their pieces straight up in the air as they go.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I met them as they crossed the ridge.”
“Heard the shooting. just about to come and look for you.) I sat down on the rock beside him, and found my cheroots in the haversack. We each lit one and smoked in grateful silence for a moment which Chubby spoiled.
“Well, we lit a fire under their tails - don’t reckon they’ll come back for more. But they have still got Miss. Sherry, man. Long as they got her, they are winning.”
“How many were there, Chubby?”
“Ten.” He spat out a scrap of tobacco and inspected the glowing tip of the cheroot. “But I took out two - and I think I winged another.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I met seven on the ridge. I had a go at them also. Aren’t more than four left now - and there are eight more out of my bunch. Say a dozen, plus those left on board - another six or seven. About twenty guns still against us, Chubby.”
“Pretty odds, Harry.”
“Let’s work on it, Chubby.”
“Let’s do that, Harry.”
I selected the newest and least abused of the three machineguns and there were five full magazines of ammunition for it. I cached the discarded weapons under a slab of flat rock and loaded and checked the other.
We each had another short drink from the water bottle and then I led the way cautiously -along the ridge, keeping off the skyline, back towards the deserted camp.
From the spot at which I had first spotted the approach of the Mandrake we surveyed the whole northern end of the island.
As we guessed they would, Manny and Suleiman Dada had taken all their men off the island. Both the whaleboat and the smaller motorboat were moored alongside the crash boat. There was much confused and meaningless activity on board, and as I watched the scurrying figures I imagined the scenes of terrible wrath and retribution which were taking place in the main cabin.
Suleiman Dada and his new protege were certainly wreaking a fearful vengeance on their already badly beaten and demoralized troops, “I want to go down to the camp, Chubby. See what they left for us,” I said at last, and handed him the binoculars. “Keep watch for me. Three quick shots as a warning signal.”
“Okay, Harry,” he agreed, but as I stood up there was a renewed outbreak of feverish activity on board the crash boat. I took the glasses back from Chubby and watched Suleiman Dada emerge from the cabin and make a laborious ascent to the open bridge. In his white uniform, bedecked with medals that glittered in the sunlight and attended by a host of helpers he reminded me of a fat white queen termite being moved from its royal cell by swarming worker ants.
The transfer was effected at last and as I watched through the binoculars I saw an electronic bullhorn handed to Suleiman. He faced the shore, lifted the hailer to his mouth and through the powerful lens I saw his lips moving. Seconds later the sound reached us clearly, magnified by the instrument and carried by the wind.
“Harry Fletcher. I hope you can hear me.” The deep wellmodulated voice was given a harsher sound by the amplifier. “I plan to put on a demonstration this evening which will convince you of the necessity of co-operating with me. Please be in a position where you can watch. You will find it fascinating. Nine o’clock this evening on the afterdeck of this ship. It’s a date, Harry. Don’t miss it.”
He handed the bullhorn to one of his officers and went below.
. “They’re going to do something to Sherry,” murtered Chubby and fiddled disconsolately with the rifle in his lap. “We’ll know at nine,” I said, and watched the officer with the bullhorn climb from the deck into the motorboat. They set off on a slow circuit of the island, stopping every half mile to shout a repetition of Suleiman Dada’s invitation to me at the silent tree-lined shore. He was very anxious for me to attend.
“All right, Chubby,” I glanced at my watch. “We have hours yet.
I’m going down to the camp. Watch out for me.” The camp had been ransacked and plundered of most items of value, equipment and stores had been smashed and scattered about the caves - but still some of it had been overlooked.
I found five cans of fuel and hid them along with much other equipment that might be of value. Then I crept cautiously down into the grove, and learned with relief that the hiding-place of the chest and the golden tigers head and the other stores was undisturbed.
Carrying a fivegallon can of drinking water and three cans of corned beef and mixed vegetables I climbed again to the ridge where Chubby waited. We ate and drank and I said to Chubby: “Get some sleep if you can. It’s going to be a long hard night.”
He grunted and curled up in the grass like a great brown bear.
Soon he was snoring softly and regularly.
I smoked three cheroots slowly and thoughtfully, but it was only as the sun was setting that I had my first real stroke of genius. It was so clear and simple, and so delightfully apt that it was immediately suspect and I reexamined it carefully.
The wind had dropped and it was completely dark by the time I was certain of my idea and I sat smiling and nodding contentedly as I thought about it.
The crash boat was brightly lit, all her ports glowed and a pair of floods glared whitely down upon the afterdeck, so it looked like an empty stage.
I woke Chubby and we ate and drank again.
“Let’s go down to the beach,” I said. “We’ll have a better view from there.”
“It might be a trap,” Chubby warned me morosely.
“I don’t think so. They are all on board, and they are playing from strength. They’ve still got Sherry. They don’t have to try any fancy tricks.”
“Man, if they do anything to that girl!” he stopped himself, and stood up. “All right, let’s go.”
We moved silently and cautiously down through the grove with our weapons cocked and our fingers on the triggers, but the night was still and the grove deserted.
We halted amongst the trees at the top of the beach. The crash boat was only two hundred yards away and I leaned my shoulder against the trunk of a palm and focused my glasses on her. It was so clear and close that I could read the writing on the lid of a packet from which one of the sentries took and lit a cigarette.
We had a front row seat for whatever entertainment Suleiman Dada was planning, and I felt the stir of apprehension and knowledge of coming horror blow like a cold breeze across my skin.
I lowered the glasses and whispered softly to Chubby, “Change your piece for mine,” and he passed me the longbarrelled FN and took the AK47I wanted the accuracy of the FN to command the deck of the crash boat. Naturally there was nothing I could do to intervene while Sherry was unharmed, but if they did anything to her - I would make sure she didn’t suffer alone.
I squatted down beside the palm tree, adjusted the peep sights of the rifle, and drew a careful bead on the head of the deck guard. I knew I could put a bullet through his temple from where I sat and when I was satisfied I laid the rifle across my lap and settled down to wait.
The mosquitoes from the swamp whined around our ears but both Chubby and I ignored them and sat
