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As he swa the mine between his hands, bottom upwards, he are of a commotion in the water behind hi hi at his back But Bond was intent only on the centre of the ship's keel and on a point about three feet above it
The nets straining for the metallic kiss with the hull
Bond had to pull hard against it to prevent the clang of contact Then it was silently in place and with its weight rely to counter his new buoyancy and get down again and away from the surface
It was as he turned to swim towards the twin propellers on his way to the shelter of the rocks that he suddenly saw the terrible things that had been going on behind hionein the water like hysterical dogs Three sharks that had joined theh the water with a clu with the dreadful fish and Bond was slaain within a few yards At any moment he knew his rubber skin would be torn with the flesh below it and then the pack would be on him
'Extreme mob behaviour conditions' The Navy Departht have saved hiht only have a few more h the water along the ship's keel, the safety-catch up on the harpoon gun that was now only a toy in the face of this drove ofcopper screws and clung to one of the, his lips drawn back from his teeth in a snarl of fear, his eyes distended as he faced the frenzy of the boiling sea around hi, darting fish were half open and that they were plunging in and out of a brownish cloud, spreading doards fro for an instant, soreat s and then swirled back into the etting darker He looked up and saith dawning comprehension that the quicksilver surface of the sea had turned red, a horrible glinting crimson
Threads of the stuff drifted within his reach He hooked soun Held the end close up against his glass mask
There was no doubt about it
Up above, so the surface of the sea with blood and offal
CHAPTER XX
BLOODY MORGAN'S CAVE
IMMEDIATELY Bond understood why all these barracuda and shark were lurking round the island, how they were kept frenzied with bloodlust by this nightly banquet, why, against all reason, the three men had been washed up half-eaten by the fish
Mr Big had just harnessed the forces of the sea for his protection It was a typical invention - iinative, technically foolproof and very easy to operate
Even as Bond'shit him a terrific blow in the shoulder and a twenty-pound barracuda backed away, black rubber and flesh hanging froo of the bronze propeller and threshed wildly for the rocks, only a horrible sickness in the pit of his stoht of part of himself between those hundred razor-sharp teeth Water started to ooze between the close-fitting rubber and his skin It would not be long before it penetrated up his neck and into the ive up and shoot the twenty feet to the surface when he saide fissure in the rocks in front of hiot behind it He turned froave just in tiain, its upper jaw held at right angles to the lower for its infa strike
Bond fired als wha fish in the centre of its raised upper jaw, pierced it and stuck with half the shaft and the line still free
The barracuda stopped dead in its tracks, three feet froave areptile's head Then it shot away, zigzaggingbehind it Bond knew that the other fish would be on to it, tearing it to bits, before it had gone a hundred yards
Bond thanked God for the diversion His shoulder was now surrounded by a cloud of blood In a matter of seconds the other fish would catch the scent He slipped round the boulder with the thought that he would scramble up under the shelter of the jetty and somehow hide himself above the level of the sea until he had made a fresh plan
Then he saw the cave that the boulder had hidden
It was really almost a door into the base of the island If Bond had not been swi for his life he could have walked in As it was, he dived straight through the opening and only stopped when several yards separated hi entrance
Then he stood upright on the soft sand and switched on his torch A shark ht conceivably come in after him but in the confined space it would be al mouth to bear on him It would certainly not cohtened of hazarding its tough skin a for its eyes with his dagger