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The ave a sideways lurch The kiss ended They had hit the first rove roots at the entrance to the river

XX

SLAVE-TIME

You're quite sure of all this?"

The Acting Governor's eyes were hunted, resentful How could these things have been going on under his nose, in one of Jamaica's dependencies? What would the Colonial Office have to say about it? He already saw the long, pale blue envelope e with those very wide ins: 'The Secretary" of State for the Colonies has instructed me to express to you his surprise'

"Yes, sir Quite sure" Bond had no sympathy for the man He hadn't liked the reception he had had on his last visit to King's House, nor the irl He liked the irl were at the bottom of the Mona Reservoir

"Er-e et out to the Press You understand that? I'll sendI'm sure I can rely on your"

"Excuse adier in co soldier of thirty-five His h for him to be unimpressed by relics from the Edwardian era of Colonial Governors, whom he collectively referred to as 'feather-hatted fuddy-duddies' "I think we can assume that Commander Bond is unlikely to communicate with anyone except his Department And if I may say so, sir, I submit that we should take steps to clear up Crab Key without waiting for approval from London I can provide a platoon ready to e HMS Narvik caramme of receptions and cocktail parties for her could possibly be deferred for forty-eight hours or so" The Brigadier let his sarcasadier, sir" The voice of the Police Superintendent was edgy Quick action ht save him from a reprimand, but it would have to be quick "And in any case I shall have to proceed iainst the various Jaet the divers working at Mona If this case is to be cleaned up we can't afford to wait for London As Mister-er-Costers will probably be in Cuba by now Have to get in touch with my opposite number in Havana and catch up with theround I think we ought to move at once, sir"

There was silence in the cool shadowy roo above the any conference table there was an unexpected dapple of sunlight Bond guessed that it shone up through the slats of the jalousies froarden outside the tall s Far away there was the sound of tennis balls being knocked about Distantly a young girl's voice called, "Smooth Your serve, Gladys" The Governor's children? Secretaries? Froe VI, frorace and good humour

"What do you think, Colonial Secretary?" The Governor's voice was hustled

Bond listened to the first feords He gathered that Pleydell-S His mind drifted into a world of tennis courts and lily ponds and kings and queens, of London, of people being photographed with pigeons on their heads in Trafalgar Square, of the forsythia that would soon be blazing on the bypass roundabouts, of May, the treasured housekeeper in his flat off the King's Road, getting up to brew herself a cup of tea (here it was eleven o'clock It would be four o'clock in London), of the first tube trains beginning to run, shaking the ground beneath his cool, dark bedrooland: the soft airs, the 'heat waves, the cold spells-'The only country where you can take a walk every day of the year'-Chesterfield's Letters? And then Bond thought of Crab Key, of the hot ugly wind beginning to blow, of the stink of the rey, dead coral in whose holes the black crabs were now squatting, the black and red eyesswiftly on their stalks as a shadow-a cloud, a bird-broke their small horizons Down in the bird colony the brown and white and pink birds would be stalking in the shallows, or fighting or nesting, while up on the guanera the cor back frora And where would the landlord be? Thehins of life and then put somewhere Would they have washed the yellow dust off him and dressed him in his kimono while the Captain radioed Antwerp for instructions? And where had Doctor No's soul gone to? Had it been a bad soul or just a ht of the burned twist down in the swamp that had been Quarrel He rerey, horizon-seeking eyes, the simple lusts and desires, the reverence for superstitions and instincts, the childish faults, the loyalty and even love that Quarrel had given him-the warmth, there was only one word for it, of the one to the same place as Doctor No Whatever happened to dead people, there was surely one place for the warm and another for the cold And which, when the tio to?

The Colonial Secretary was ether