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For a final second he listened, then he reached behind his back for the knife and went up the iron steps and into the cabin with the stealth and speed of a panther

At the last moment there was need to hurry Bond stood behind thehim He had time to raise his knife hand almost to the roof of the cabin, tith, before he swept the blade down and into the square inch of smooth, brownish-yellow skin

The s splayed away from the controls 'His face strained back towards Bond It seeing eyes before the whites rolled upwards Then a strangled noise ca body rolled sideways off its iron seat and crashed to the floor

Bond's eyes didn't even follow it ajs far as the ground He was akeady in the seat and reaching for the pedals and levers Everything was out of control The engine was running in neutral, the wire haas tearing off the druiraffe's neck, the canvasits column of dust between the jetty and the ship Doctor No was staring upwards His

Coolly, Bond reined thethe levers and pedals back to the angles at which the driver had been holding theain The hawser slowed on the spinning dru the canvas mouth up and over the ship The tip of the crane lifted and stopped The scene was as before Now!

Bond reached forward for the iron wheel which the driver had been handling when Bond had caught his first glimpse of him Which way to turn it? Bond tried to the left The tip of the crane veered slightly to the right So be it Bond spun the wheel to the right Yes, by God, it was answering,the mouth of the conveyor with it

Bond's eyes flashed to the jetty Doctor No had moved He had moved a few paces to a stanchion that Bond had h to the other side of thethe receiver ar to attract attention

Bond whirled the director wheel Christ, wouldn't it turn any faster? In seconds Doctor No would get through and it would be too late Slowly the tip of the crane arced across the sky Now thethe dust column down over the side of the ship Now the yellowsilently across the jetty Five yards, four, three, two! Don't look round, you bastard! Arrh, got you! Stop the wheel! Now, you take it, Doctor No!

At the first brush of the stinking dust colu wide as if to e mass One knee rose to run The mouth opened and a thin screaine Then there was a brief gli snowher and higher

"God!" Bond's voice gave back an iron echo fros stuffing with the filthy dust, the body bending and then falling under the weight, the last ie, horror, defeat?-and then the silence of the stinking toh The stuff was spilling off the sides of the jetty into the sea Bond glanced

at the ship As he did so, there came three blasts on its siren

The noise crashed round the cliffs There came a fourth blast which didn't stop Bond could see the watch holding on to the lanyard as he craned out of the bridge , looking down Bond took his hands off the controls and let theo

He slipped off the iron seat and bent over the dead body He took the revolver out of the holster and looked at it He sular model He slipped it down inside his waistband It was fine to feel the heavy cold ainst his skin He went to the door of the cabin and dropped down to the ground

An iron ladder ran up the cliif behind the crane to where the conveyor-housing jutted out There was a s Bond scra out a puff of guano dost, and he cla of the conveyor-belt over its rollers was deafening, but there were di of the tunnel and a narroalk that stretched away into theriver of dust Bond ainst the fishy aet to the end before the significance of the ship's siren and of the unanswered telephone overcauards

Bond half ran and half stu tunnel How far would it be? Two hundred yards? And then what? Nothing for it but to break out of the tunnel -cause a panic and hope for the best He would get hold of one of the irl was Then what? When he got to the place on the mountainside, ould he find? What would be left of her?

Bond ran on faster, his head doatching the narrow breadth of planking, wondering ould happen if he uano dust Would he be able to get off the belt again or would he be whirled away and down until he was finally spewed out on to the burial mound of Doctor No?

When Bond's head hit into the soft stomach and he felt the hands at his throat, it was too late to think of his revolver His only reaction was to throw hiainst his shoulder and there was a shrill scream as the body crashed down on his back

Bond had started the heave that would hurl his attacker sideways and on to the conveyor-belt when the quality of the screaht and soft about the impact of the body froze his muscles

It couldn't be!

As if in answer, sharp teeth bit deeply into the calf of his right leg and an elbow jabbed viciously, knowledgeably, backwards into his groin