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The girl said indifferently "That's where the dragon's been"

Quarrel turned the whites of his eyes towards her

Bond walked slowly along the tracks The outside ones were quite smooth with an indented curve They could have been made by wheels, but they were vast-at least two feet across The centre track was of the same shape but only three inches across, about the width of a motor tyre The tracks ithout a trace of tread, and they were fairly fresh They ht line and the bushes they crossed were squashed flat as if a tank had gone over theine what kind of vehicle, if it was a vehicle, had ed him and whispered fiercely "I told you so", he could only say thoughtfully, "Well, Honey, if it isn't a dragon, it's so else I've never seen before"

Farther on, she tugged urgently at his sleeve "Look," she whispered She pointed forward to a big clump of bushes beside which the tracks ran They were leafless and blackened In the centre there showed the charred remains of birds' nests "He breathed on them," she said excitedly

Bond walked up to the bushes and examined them "He certainly did," he admitted Why had this particular clump been burned? It was all very odd

The tracks swerved out towards the lake and disappeared into the water Bond would have liked to follow theed on, wrapped in their different thoughts

Slowly the day began to die behind the sugar-loaf, and at last the girl pointed ahead through the bushes and Bond could see a long spit of sand running out into the lake There were thick bushes of sea-grape along its spine and, halfway, perhaps a hundred yards from the shore, the remains of a thatched hut It looked a reasonably attractive place to spend the night and it ell protected by the water on both sides The wind had died and the water was soft and inviting How heavenly it was going to be to take off their filthy shirts and wash in the lake, and, after the hours of squelching through the mud and stench of the river and the marsh, be able to lie down on the hard dry sand!

The sun blazed yellowly and sank behind the mountain The day was still alive at the eastern tip of the island, but the black shadow of the sugar-loaf was slowlyacross the lake and would soon reach out and kill that too The frogs started up, louder than in Jamaica, until the thick dusk was shrill with thean to dru between a toes that were suddenly throttled Soon it fell silent It had found what it had sent for

They reached the neck of the sandspit and filed out along a narrow track They ca with the s mysterious tracks led out of the water on both sides and through the clearing and over the nearby bushes as if the thing, whatever it was, had stampeded the place Many of the bushes were burned or charred There were the remains of a fireplacepots and empty tins They searched in the debris and Quarrel unearthed a couple of unopened tins of Heinz pork and beans The girl found a cru Bond found a s five one-dollar notes, three Jamaica pounds and some silver The two men had certainly left in a hurry

They left the place and h the bushes they could see lights winking across the water from the mountain, perhaps twobut the soft black sheen of water under the darkening sky

Bond said, "As long as we don't show a light we should be fine here The first thing is to have a good wash Honey, you take the rest of the sandspit and we'll have the landward end See you for dinner in about half an hour"

The girl laughed "Will you be dressing?"

"Certainly," said Bond "Trousers"

Quarrel said, "Cap'n, while dere's henough light I'll get dese tins open and get tings fixed for de night" He ruun De bread don't feel so good but hit only wet Hit eat okay an' mebbe hit dry hout coht an' keep de cheese an' pork Dose tins is heavy an' we got plenty footin' toht, Quarrel I'll leave the un and the damp trousers and walked down into the shalloater and back the way they had come He found a hard dry stretch of sand and took off his shirt and stepped back into the water and lay down The water was soft but disgustingly war up handfuls of sand and scrubbed hi it as soap Then he lay and luxuriated in the silence and the loneliness

The stars began to shine palely, the stars that had brought theo, the stars that would take theht, a year away What a trip! But at least it had already paid off Now he had enough evidence, and witnesses, to go back to the Governor and get a full-dress inquiry going into the activities of Doctor No One didn't use uns on people, even on trespassers And, by the sa of Doctor No's that had trespassed on the leasehold of the Audubon Society, the thing that had smashed their property and had possibly killed one of their wardens? That would have to be investigated too And ould he find when he cah the front door, in a destroyer, perhaps, and with a detachment of marines? What would be the answer to the riddle of Doctor No? What was he hiding? What did he fear? Why was privacy so iain, for it? Who was Doctor No?

Bond heard splashing away to his right He thought of the girl And who, for the matter of that, was Honeychile Rider? That, he decided, as he cliht to be able to find out before the night was over"

Bond pulled on his claun He did it by touch, using his shirt to dry each part and each cartridge Then he reasseer round the empty cylinder The sound was healthy It would be days before it rusted He loaded it and tucked it into the holster inside the waistband of his trousers and got up and walked back to the clearing

The shadow of Honey reached up and pulled hiot one of the cooking pots and cleaned it out and we poured the beans into it There's about two full handfuls each and a cricket ball of bread And I' your food because you made me work far harder than I would if I'd been alone Here, hold out your hand"

Bond smiled at the authority in her voice He could just make out her silhouette in the dusk Her head looked sleeker He wondered what her hair looked like when it was co clean clothes over that beautiful golden body? He could see her co into a room or across the lawn at Beau Desert She would be a beautiful, ravishing, Ugly Duckling Why had she never had the broken nose mended? It was an easy operation Then she would be the irl in Jaainst him Bond reached out and put his hand down in her lap, open She picked up his hand and Bond felt the coldpoured into it

Suddenly he s that his body swayed against her and for a h in which there was shyness and satisfaction and tenderness She said "There," maternally, and carried his laden hand away from her and back to him

XI