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They looked at each other for a moment, then she turned to the table and poured hilass for herself and sat down on the warainst his knee He played with her hair with his right hand and they sat for a while looking out between the trunks of the pal on the island

The day had been given over to licking wounds and cleaning up the remains of the mess

When Quarrel had landed them on the little beach at Beau Desert, Bond had half carried Solitaire across the lawn and into the bathroom He had filled the bath full of ater Without her knoas happening he had soaped and washed her whole body and her hair When he had cleaned away all the salt and coral slime he helped her out, dried her and put hs Then he gave her a sleeping draught and put her naked between the sheets in his own bed He kissed her Before he had finished closing the jalousies she was asleep

Then he got into the bath and Strangways soaped him down and al in a hundred places and his left arm was numb from the barracuda bite He had lost aof the rind his teeth

He put on a dressing-gown and Quarrel drove him to the hospital at Port Maria Before he left he had a Lucullian breakfast and a blessed first cigarette He fell asleep in the car and he slept on the operating table and in the cot where they finally put hiical tape

Quarrel brought hiways had acted on the inforiven him There was a police detach in about twenty fatho patrolled by the Custo and divers were on their way froiven a brief stateuard on the entrance to Beau Desert prepared to repel the flood of newspaperot out to the world Meanwhile a detailed report had gone to M, and to Washington , so that The Big Man's tea could be rounded up and provisionally held on a blanket gold-se

There were no survivors froht in nearly a ton of dead fish that

Jamaica was aflame with rumours There were serried ranks of cars on the cliffs above the bay and along the beach below Word had got out about Bloody Morgan's treasure, but also about the packs of shark and barracuda that had defended it, and because of theet out to the scene of the wreck under cover of darkness

A doctor had been to visit Solitaire but had found her chiefly concerned about getting soways had arranged for a selection to be sent over fro with the contents of Bond's suitcase and a bowl of hibiscus

Strangways got back froston shortly after Bond's return fronal for Bond from M It read:

PRESUME YOU HAVE FILED CLAIM TO TREASURE IN YOUR NAME BEHALF UNIVERSAL EXPORT STOP PROCEED IMMEDIATELY WITH SALVAGE STOP HAVE ENGAGED COUNSEL TO PRESS OUR RIGHTS WITH TREASURY AND COLONIAL OFFICE STOP MEANWHILE VERY WELL DONE STOP FORTNIGHT'S PASSIONATE LEAVE GRANTED ENDIT

'I suppose he ways looked solee to you And to the girl,' he added

'Hroup However'

Strangways looked carefully out of the ith his one eye

'It's so like the old devil to think of the gold first,' said Bond 'Suppose he thinks he can get aith it and soe a reduction in the Secret Fund when the next parliamentary estiuing with the Treasury But still he's been pretty quick off the mark'

'I filed your claiways 'But it's going to be tricky The Croill be after it and America will co business'

They had talked soways had left and Bond had walked painfully out into the garden to sit for a while in the sunshine with his thoughts

In his ers he had entered on his long chase after The Big Man and the fabulous treasure, and he lived again through the searing flashes of time when he had looked various deaths in the face

And noas over and he sat in the sunshine a the floith the prize at his feet and his hand in her long black hair He clasped the ht of the fourteen tomorrows that would be theirs between them

There was a crash of broken crockery from the kitchen at the back of the house and the sound of Quarrel's voice thundering at someone

'Poor Quarrel,' said Solitaire 'He's borrowed the best cook in the village and ransacked the markets for surprises for us He's even found so a pitiful little sucking pig and uavas and coconut creaways has left a case of the best chaet it's supposed to be a secret I wandered into the kitchen and found he had al with us on our passionate holiday,' said Bond He told her of M's cable 'We're going to a house on stilts with palolden sand And you'll have to look after me very well because I shan't be able to make love with only one arm'

There was open sensuality in Solitaire's eyes as she looked up at him She smiled innocently

'What about my back?' she said

[1]

This terrifying ga case is described in the author's Casino Royale

[2]

This, one of the great travel books, is published by John Murray at 253