We all got more than a little drunk that night, even Sherry North, and she leaned against me for support as we finally made a riotous way through the rain to our own cave.

"You really are corrupting me, Fletcher," she stumbled into a puddle, and nearly brought me down. "This is the first time ever I have been stoned."

"Be of good cheer, my pretty sweeting, your next lesson in corruption follows immediately."

When I woke it was still dark and I rose from our bed, careful not to disturb Sherry who was Wbreathing lightly and evenly in the darkness. It was cool so I pulled on shorts and a woollen jersey.

Outside the cave the west wind had broken up the cloud banks. It had stopped raining and the stars were showing in the breaks of the heavens, giving me enough light to read the luminous dial of my wrist.w.a.tch. It was a little after three o'clock.

As I sought my favourite palm tree, I saw that we had left the lantern burning in the storage cave. I finished what I had to do and went up to the lighted entrance.

The open chest stood where we had left it, as did the priceless golden head with its glittering eye - and suddenly I was struck with the consuming terror that the miser must feel for his h.o.a.rd. It was so vulnerable.

" - where thieves break in-" I thought, and it was not as though there were any shortage of them in the immediate vicinity.

I had to get it all stowed away safely, and tomorrow would be too late. Despite the pain in my head and the taste of stale whisky in the back of my throat, it must be done now - but I needed help.

Chubby roused to my first soft call at the entrance of his cave, and came out into the starlight, resplendent in his striped pyjamas and as wide awake as if he had drank nothing more noxious than mother's milk before retiring.

I explained my fears and misgivings. Chubby grunted in agreement and went with me back to the storage cave. The plastic bags of gem stones we repacked casually into the iron chest and I secured the lid with a length of nylon line. The golden head we shrouded carefully in a length of green canvas tarpaulin and we carried both down into the palm grove, before returning for spades and the gas lantern.

By the flat white glare of the lantern we worked side by side, digging two shallow graves in the sandy soil within a few feet of where the gelignite and the FN rifle with its spare ammunition were already buried.

We laid the chest and the golden head away and covered them.

Afterwards I brushed the soil over them with a palm frond to wipe out all trace of our labours.

"You happy now, Harry?" Chubby asked at last.

"Yeah, I'm happier, Chubby. You go and get some sleep, hear."

He went away amongst the palms carrying the lantern and not looking back. I knew I would not be able to sleep again, for the spadework had cleared my head and roused my blood. It would be senseless to return to the cave and try to lie quietly beside Sherry until dawn.

I wanted to find some quiet and secret place where I could think out my next moves in this intricate game of chance in which I was involved. I chose the path that led to the saddle between the lesser peaks and as I climbed it, the last of the clouds were blown aside and revealed a pale yellow moon still a week from full. Its light was strong enough to show me the way to the nearest peak and I left the path and toiled upwards to the summit.

I found a place protected from the wind and settled into it. I wished that I had a cheroot with me for I think better with one of them in my mouth. I also think better without a hangover - but there was nothing I could do about either.

After half an hour I had firmly decided that we must consolidate what we had gained to this point. The miser's fears, which had a.s.sailed me earlier still persisted and I had been given clear warning that the wolf pack was out hunting. As soon as it was light we would take what we had salvaged so far - the head and the chest - and run down the island to St. Mary's to dispose of them in the manner which I had already so carefully planned.

There would be time later to return to Gunfire Reef and recover what remained in the misty depths of the pool. Once the decision had been made I felt a lift of relief, a new lightness of spirit, and I looked forward to the solution of the other major puzzle that had troubled me for so long.

Very soon I would be in a position to call Sherry North's hand and have a sight of those cards which she concealed so carefully from me. I wanted to know what caused those shadows in the blue depths of her eyes, and the answers to many other mysteries that surrounded her. That time would soon come.

There was a paling of the sky at last, dawn's first pearling light spread across from the east and softened the harsh dark plain of the ocean. I rose stiffly from my seat amongst the rocks, and picked my way around the peak into the wicked eye of the west wind. I stood there on the exposed face above the camp with the wind raising a rash of goose b.u.mps along my arms and ruffling my hair.

I looked down into the sheltering arms of the lagoon, and in the feeble glimmer of dawn, the darkened ship that was creeping stealthily into the open arms of the bay looked like some pale phantom.

Even as I stared I saw the splash at her bows as she let go her anchor, and she rounded up into the wind showing her full silhouette so that I could not doubt that she was the Mandrake.

Before I had recovered my wits, she had dropped a boat which sped in swiftly towards the beach.

I started to run.

fell once on the path, but the force of my headlong descent from the peak carried me on and with a single roll I was on my feet again, still running.

I was panting wildly as I burst into Chubby's cave, and I shouted, "Move, man, move! They are on the beach already."

The two of them tumbled from their sleeping bags. Angelo was tousle-haired and blank-eyed from sleep, but Chubby was quick and alert.

"Chubby," I snapped, "go get that piece out of the ground. jump, man, they'll be coming up through the grove in a few minutes." He had changed while I spoke, Pulling on a shirt and belting his denim breeches. He grunted an acknowledgement. "I'll follow you in a minute," I called as he ran out into the feeble light of dawn.

"Angelo, snap out of it!" I grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

"I want you to look after Miss. Sherry, hear?"

He was dressed now and he nodded owlishly at me. "Come on." I half dragged him as we ran across to my cave. I dragged her out of bed and while she dressed I told her.

"Angelo will go with you. I want you to take a can of drinking water and the two of you get the h.e.l.l down to the south of the island, cross the saddle first though and keep out of sight. Climb the peak and hide out in the chimney where we found the inscription. You know where I mean."

"Yes, Harry,"she nodded.

"Stay there. Don't go out or show yourself under any circ.u.mstances. Understand?"

She nodded as she tucked the tail of her shirt into her breeches.

"Remember, these people are killers. The time for games is over, this is a pack of wolves that we are dealing with."

"Yes, Harry, I know."

"Okay then," I embraced and kissed her quickly. "Off you go then." And they went out of the cave, Angelo lugging a five-gallon can of drinking water, and they trotted away into the palm grove.

Quickly I threw a few items into a light haversack, a box of cheroots, matches, binoculars, water bottle and a heavy jersey, a tin of "chocolate and of survival rations, a torch and I buckled my belt around my waist with the heavy baitknife in the sheath. Slinging the strap of the haversack over my shoulder, I also ran from the cave and followed Chubby down into the palm grove towards the beach.

I had run fifty yards when there was the thud, thudding of small-arms fire, a shout and another burst of firing. It was directly ahead of me and very close.

I paused and slipped behind the hole of the palm tree while I peered into the lightening shades of the grove. I saw movement, a figure running towards me and I loosened the baivknife in its sheath and waited until I was sure, before I called softly, "Chubby?" The running figure swerved towards me. He was carrying the IN rifle and the canvas bandolier with spare magazines of ammunition, and he was breathing quickly but lightly as he saw me.

They spotted me," he grunted. "There are hundreds of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

At that moment I saw more movement amongst the trees.

"Here they come," I said. "Let's go."

I wanted to give Sherry a clear run, so I did not take the path across the saddle, but turned directly southwards to lead the pursuit off her scent. We headed for the swamps at the southern end of the island.

They saw us as we ran obliquely across their front. I heard a shout, answered immediately by others, and then there were five scattered shots and I saw the muzzle flashes bloom amongst the dark trees. A bullet struck a palm trunk high above our head, a woody thunk, but we were going fast and within minutes the shouts of pursuit were fading behind us.

I reached the edge of the salt marsh, and swung away inland to avoid the stinking mudflats. On the first gentle slope of the hills I halted to listen and to regain our breath. The light was strengthening swiftly now. Within a short while it would be sunrise and I wanted to be under cover before then.

Suddenly there were distant cries of dismay from the direction of the swamps and I guessed that the pursuit had blundered into. the glutinous mud. That would discourage them fairly persuasively, I thought, and grinned.

"Okay, Chubby, let's get on," I whispered, and as we stood there was a new sound from a different direction.

The sound was muted by distance and by the intervening heights of the ridge, for it came from the seaward side of the island, but it was the unmistakable ripping sound of automatic gunfire.

Chubby and I froze into listerung att.i.tudes and the sound was repeated, another long tearing burst of machine-gun fire-. Then there was silence, though we listened for three or four minutes.

"Come on," I said quietly, we could. delay no longer and we ran on up the slope towards the southernmost peak.

We climbed quickly in the fast-growing morning light, and I was too preoccupied to feel any qualms as we negotiated the narrow ledge and stepped at last into the deep rock crack where I had arranged to meet Sherry.

The shelter was silent and deserted but I called without hope, "Sherry! Are you there, love?"

There was no reply from the shadows, and I turned back to Chubby.

"They had a good lead on us. They should have been here," and only then did that burst of machine-gun fire we had heard earlier take on new meaning.

I removed the binoculars from the haversack and then thrust it away into a crack in the rock.

"They've run into trouble, Chubby," I told him. "Come on. Let's go and find out what happened."

Once we were off the ledge we struck out through the jumble of broken rock towards the seaward side of the island, but even in my haste and dreadful anxiety for Sherry's safety, I moved with stealth and we were careful not to show ourselves to a watcher in the groves or on the beaches below us.

As we crossed the divide of the ridge a new vista opened before us, the curve of the beach and the jagged black sweep of Gunfire Reef. I halted instantly and pulled Chubby down beside me, as we crouched into cover.

Anch.o.r.ed in a position to command the mouth of the channel through Gunfire Reef was the armed crash boat from Zinballa Bay, flagship of my old friend Suleiman Dada. Returning to it from the beach was a small motorboat, crowded with tiny figures.

"G.o.d d.a.m.n it," I muttered, "they really had it planned. Manny Resnick has teamed up with Suleiman Dada. That's what took him so long to get here. while Manny hit the beach, Dada was covering the channel, so we couldn't make a bolt for it like we did before."

"And he had men on the beach - that was the machinegun fire.

Manny Resnick sailed Mandrake into the bay to flush us, and Dada had the back door covered."

What about Miss. Sherry and Angelo? Do you think they got away?

Did Dada's men catch them when they crossed the saddle?"

"Oh G.o.dv I groaned, and cursed myself for not having stayed with her. I stood up and focused the binoculars on the motor-boat as it crawled across the clear waters of the outer lagoon to the anch.o.r.ed crash boat.

"I can't see them." Even with the aid of the binoculars, the occupants of the dinghy were merely a dark ma.s.s, for the morning sun was rising beyond them and the glare off the water dazzled me. I could not make out separate figures, let alone recognize individuals.

"They may have them in the boat - but I can't see." In my agitation I had left the cover of the rocks, and was seeking a better vantage point, moving about on the skyline. Out in the open I must have been highlit by the same sun rays that were blinding me.

I saw the familiar flash, and the long white feather of gunsmoke blow from the mounted quick-firer on the bows of the crash boat, and I heard the sh.e.l.l coming with a rushing sound like eagles" wings "Get down!" I shouted at Chubby, and threw myself flat amongst the rocks.

The sh.e.l.l burst in very close, with the bright hot glare like the brief opening of a furnace door. -Shrapnel and rock fragments trilled and whined around us, and I jumped to my feet.

"Run!" I yelled at Chubby, and we jinked back over the skyline just as the next sh.e.l.l pa.s.sed over us, making us both flinch our heads at the mighty crack of pa.s.sing shot.

Chubby was wiping a smear of blood from his forearm as we crouched behind the ridge.

"Okay?" I asked. "A scratch, that's all. Bit of a rock fragment,"he growled. "Chubby, I'm going down to find out what happened to the others. No point both of us taking a chance. You wait here."

"You're wasting time, Harry, I'm coming with you. Let's go." He hefted the rifle and led the way down the peak. I thought of taking the FN away from him. In his hands it was about as lethal as a slingshot when fired with his closedeyes technique. Then I left it. It made him feel good.

We moved slowly, hugging any cover there was and searching ahead before moving forward. However, the island was silent except for the sough and clatter of the west wind in the tops of the palms and we saw n.o.body as we moved up the seaward side of the island.

I cut the spoor left by Angelo and Sherry as they crossed the saddle, above the camp. Their running footsteps had bitten deep into the fluffy soil, Sherry's small slim prints were overlapped by Angelo's broad bare feet.

We followed them down the slope, and suddenly they shied off the track. They had dropped the water-can here and, turning abruptly, had separated slightly, as though they had run side by side for sixty yards.

There we found Angelo, and he was never going to enjoy his share of the spoils. He had been hit by three of the soft heavy-calibre slugs. They had torn through the thin fabric of his shirt, and opened huge dark wounds in his back and chest.

He had bled copiously but the sandy soil had absorbed most of it, and already what was left was drying into a thick black crust. The flies were a.s.sembled, crawling gleefully into the bullet holes and swarming on the long dark lashes around his wide open and startled eyes.

Following her tracks I saw where Sherry had run on for twenty paces, and -then the little idiot had turned back and gone to kneel beside where Angelo lay. I cursed her for that. She might have been able to escape if she had not indulged in that useless and extravagant gesture.

They had caught her as she knelt beside the body and dragged her down through the palms to the beach. I could see the long slide marks in the sand where she had dug her feet in and tried to resist.

Without leaving the shelter of the trees, I looked down the smooth white sand, following their tracks to where the marks of the motor-boat's keel still showed in the sand of the water's edge.

They had taken her out to the crash boat, and I crouched behind a pile of driftwood and dried palm fronds to stare out at the graceful little ship.

Even as I watched she weighed anchor, picked up speed and pa.s.sed slowly down the length of the island to round the point and enter the inner lagoon where Mandrake was still lying at anchor.

I straightened up and slipped back through the grove to where I had left Chubby. He had laid the carbine aside and he sat with Angelo's body in his arms, cradling the head against his shoulder. Chubby was weeping, fat glistening tears slid wearily down the seamed brown cheeks and fell from his jaw to wet the thick dark curls of the boy in his arms.

I picked up the rifle and stood guard over them while Chubby wept for both of us. I envied him the relief of tears, the outpouring of pain that would bring surcease. My own grief was as fierce as Chubby's, for I had loved Angelo as much, but it was down deep inside where it hurt more.

"All right, -Chubby," I said at last. "Let's go, man." He stood up with "the boy still in his arms and we moved back along the ridge.

In a gully that was choked with rank vegetation we laid Angelo in a shallow grave that we sc.r.a.ped with our hands, and we covered him with a blanket of branches and leaves that I cut with my bait-knife before filling the grave. I could not bring myself to throw sand into his unprotected face, and the leaves made a gentler shroud.

Chubby wiped away his tears with the open palm of his hand and he stood up.

"They got Sherry," I told him quietly. "She is aboard the crash boat." "Is she hurt?" he asked.

"I don't think so, not yet."

"What do you want to do now, Harry?" he asked, and the question was answered for me.

Somewhere far off towards the camp, we heard a whistle shrill, and we moved up the ridge to a point where we could see down into the inner lagoon and landward side of the island.

Mandrake lay where I had last seen her and the Zinballa crash boat was anch.o.r.ed a hundred yards closer to the sh.o.r.e. They had seized the whaleboat and were using her to land men on the beach- They were all armed, and uniformed- They set off immediately into the palm trees and the whaleboat ran back to Mandrake.

I Put the binoculars on to Mandrake and saw that there were developments taking place there also. In the field of the gla.s.ses I recognized Manny Resnick in a white opens neck shirt and blue slacks as he climbed down into the whaleboat. He was followed by Lorna Page. She wore dark gla.s.ses, a Yellow scarf around her pale blonde hair and an emerald green slack suit. I felt hatred seethe in my guts as I recognized them.

Now something happened that puzzled me. The luggage that I had seen loaded into the Rolls at Curzon Street was brought out on to the deck by two of Manny's thugs and it also was pa.s.sed down into the whaleboat.