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Bond was amused as he ticked off the little precautions It was obvious that he was still very ars to the left of the , drove slowly between thee Alouette helicopter, adapted by Sud Aviation for mountain rescue work But this one had the red G with the coronet on its fuselage So! He was going to be taken for a flight rather than a ride!

'You have travelled in one of these machines before, no? It is very pleasant One obtains a fine view of the Alps' Fraulein Bunt's eyes were blank with disinterest They climbed up the aluminium ladder 'Mind your head, please!' Bond's suitcase was handed up by the chauffeur

It was a six-seater, luxurious in red leather Above and in front of theround staff pulled away the chocks and the big blades began to round dreay, shielding their faces against the whirling snow There was a slight jolt and then they were cli fast, and the crackle of radio from the control toent silent

Ire-way from Bond The extraBond leaned sideways and said loudly, against the rattle of thefor?'

She pretended not to hear Bond repeated his question, shouting it

'Into the Alps Into the high Alps,' shouted the woman She waved towards the'It is very beautiful You like the mountains, isn't it?'

'I love them,' shouted Bond 'Just like Scotland' He leaned back in his seat, lit a cigarette, and looked out of theYes, there was the Zurichersee to port Their course wasat about 2,000 feet And now there was the Wallensee Bond, apparently uninterested, took the Daily Express out of his brief-case and turned to the sports pages He read the paper fro a bored glance out of theThe big range to port would be the Rhatikon Alps That would be the railway junction of Landquart below theau Would they keep on at Klosters or veer to starboard? Starboard it was So! Up the Davos Valley! In a few lance Yes, there was Davos under its thin canopy of evening ht sunshine At least she seemed to have had plenty of snow Bond remembered the tremendous run down the Parsenn Those had been the days! And now back on the old course again and giant peaks to right and left This adine The Silvretta Group away to starboard, to port Piz Languard and, ahead, the Bernina range diving down, like a vast ski-juhts away to starboard must be St Moritz! Nohere? Bond buried hihts Pontresina? And now the radio began to crackle and the 'Seat belts' sign went up Bond thought it tiround was olden in the dying sun They were ht for one of theroup of buildings froolden wires swooped down into the darkness of the valley A cable car, spangled in the sun, was creeping down Now it had been sed up in tiethe side of the peak that towered above the in to the plateau and the buildings The pilot's arms moved on his joy stick The uidly and then accelerated as the ht bu whirr from the rotor and they were there

Where? Bond knew They were in the Languard range, soadine, and their altitude would be about 10,000 feet He buttoned up his raincoat and prepared for the rasping dagger of the cold anon his lungs when the door was opened

Irave her box-like smile 'We have arrived,' she said unnecessarily

The door, with a clatter of falling ice particles, renched open The last rays of the sun shone into the cabin They caught the wo her face Chinese The eyes gave out a false blaze, like the glass eyes of a toy aniht

'Mind your head' She bent low, her tight, squat behind inviting an enormous kick, and went down the ladder

Ja ienless air There were one or two uides They looked at Bond with curiosity, but there was no greeting Bond went on across the hard-trodden snow in the wake of the wo with his suitcase He heard the engine stutter and roar, and a blizzard of snow particles stung the right side of his face Then the iron grasshopper rose into the air and rattled off into the dusk

It was perhaps fifty yards fros Bond dawdled, getting preli, now ablaze with lights To the right, and perhaps another fifty yards aere the outlines of the typical modern cable railhead, a box-like structure, with a thick flat roof canted upwards frohts went out Presumably the last car had reached the valley and the line was closed for the night To the right of this was a large, bogus-chalet type structure with a vast veranda, sparsely lit, that would be for the h-Alpine architecture Down to the left, beneath the slope of the plateau, lights shone fro that, except for its flat roof, was out of sight

Bond was now only a few yards fro of yellow opened invitingly as the woht illun with the red G surmounted by the coronet It said GLORIA KLUB 3605 METRES PRIVAT! NUR FUR MITGLIEDER Below in shaus und Restaurant Piz Gloria', and the drooping index finger of the traditional hand pointed to the right, towards the building near the cable-head