Part 29 (2/2)

I topped the rise and al in the opposite direction, also at a headlong run

There were six of his co the best possible speed on his heels Thirty yards farther back was another who had lost his weapon and whose uniform jacket was sodden with fresh blood

On all their faces were expressions of abandoned terror, and they ran with the single-ions of hell

I knew instantly that this rabble were the survivors of an encounter with Chubby Andrews, and that it had been too much for their nerves They were hell-bent and ho must have iy

So much were the seamen involved with the devil behind the instant which it took for un on my hip, bracethe weapon in a short kicking traverse aimed low at their knees With a rate of fire like that of an AK47, you s, and rely on another three or four hits in the body as the h the sheet of fire It also defeats the efforts of the short barrel to ride up under the thrust of the recoil

They went doard in a sprawling shrieking e strike of the soft heavy-calibre slugs

I held the trigger down for the count of four, and then I turned and plunged off the path into the thick wall of goose-bush It hid ed under the branches

Behind , and the bullets tore and snapped through the thick foliage None cauessed that my sudden and completely unexpected attack would have permanently acounted for two or three of the seamen, and may have wounded one or two others

However, the effect on theirso soon after Chubby's onslaught Once they reached the safety of the crash boat, I guessed that the forces of evil would debate long and hard before setting foot on the island again We had won the second round decisively, but they still had Sherry North That was theas they held her they could dictate the course of the gast the rocks on the saddle of the peak The man was indestructible

”Jesus, Harry, where the hell you been?”he growled ”I've been waiting here all ”

I saw that he had retrieved my haversack from the cleft in the rocks where I had left it It lay with two captured AK47 rifles and bandoliers of ammunition at his feet

He handed me the water bottle, and only then did I realize how thirsty I was The heavily chlorinated water tasted like Veuve Clicquot, but I rationed ize to you, Harry I had a go just couldn't help it,out in the open like a Sunday-school picnic just couldn't help ood old squirt Dropped two of theht up in the air as they go”

”Yeah,” I nodded ”Ijust about to come and look for you) I sat down on the rock beside him, and found rateful silence for a moment which Chubby spoiled

”Well, we lit a fire under their tails - don't reckon they'll coot Miss Sherry, ”

”How many were there, Chubby?”

”Ten” He spat out a scrap of tobacco and inspected the glowing tip of the cheroot ”But I took out two - and I think I winged another”

”Yeah,” I agreed ”I o at theht more out of my bunch Say a dozen, plus those left on board - another six or seven About twenty guns still against us, Chubby”

”Pretty odds, Harry”

”Let's work on it, Chubby”

”Let's do that, Harry”

I selected the newest and least abused of the three azines of ammunition for it I cached the discarded weapons under a slab of flat rock and loaded and checked the other

We each had another short drink fro the ridge, keeping off the skyline, back towards the deserted camp

From the spot at which I had first spotted the approach of the Mandrake we surveyed the whole northern end of the island

As we guessed they would, Manny and Suleiman Dada had taken all their men off the island Both the whaleboat and the sside the crash boat There was less activity on board, and as I watched the scurrying figures I iined the scenes of terrible wrath and retribution which were taking place in the e were certainly wreaking a fearful vengeance on their already badly beaten and deo down to the camp, Chubby See what they left for us,” I said at last, and handed him the binoculars ”Keep watch for nal”

”Okay, Harry,” he agreed, but as I stood up there was a renewed outbreak of feverish activity on board the crash boat I took the glasses back froe froe In his white uniforht and attended by a host of helpers he reworker ants

The transfer was effected at last and as I watched through the binoculars I saw an electronic bullhorn handed to Suleiman He faced the shore, lifted the hailer to hisSeconds later the sound reached us clearly, nified by the instrument and carried by the wind

”Harry Fletcher I hope you can hear iven a harsher sound by the a which will convince you of the necessity of co-operating with me Please be in a position where you can watch You will find it fascinating Nine o'clock this evening on the afterdeck of this shi+p It's a date, Harry Don't miss it”

He handed the bullhorn to one of his officers and went below

”They're going to do so to Sherry,” murtered Chubby and fiddled disconsolately with the rifle in his lap ”We'll know at nine,” I said, and watched the officer with the bullhorn climb from the deck into the motor-boat They set off on a slow circuit of the island, stopping every half mile to shout a repetition of Suleiman Dada's invitation to me at the silent tree-lined shore He was very anxious for lanced atdown to the camp Watch out for me” The camp had been ransacked and plundered of most items of value, equipment and stores had been smashed and scattered about the caves - but still some of it had been overlooked

I found five cans of fuel and hid theht be of value Then I crept cautiously down into the grove, and learned with relief that the hiding-place of the chest and the golden tigers head and the other stores was undisturbed

Carrying a fivegallon can of drinking water and three cans of corned beef and e where Chubby waited We ate and drank and I said to Chubby: ”Get soht”

He grunted and curled up in the grass like a great brown bear

Soon he was snoring softly and regularly

I shtfully, but it was only as the sun was setting that I had enius It was so clear and sihtfully apt that it was immediately suspect and I reexamined it carefully

The wind had dropped and it was completely dark by the ti contentedly as I thought about it

The crash boat was brightly lit, all her ports glowed and a pair of floods glared whitely down upon the afterdeck, so it looked like an eain

”Let's go down to the beach,” I said ”We'll have a better view froht be a trap,” Chubby warned me morosely

”I don't think so They are all on board, and they are playing froot Sherry They don't have to try any fancy tricks”

”Man, if they do anything to that girl!” he stopped hio”

We rove with our weapons cocked and our fingers on the triggers, but the night was still and the grove deserted

We halted ast the trees at the top of the beach The crash boat was only two hundred yards away and I leaned lasses on her It was so clear and close that I could read the writing on the lid of a packet froarette

We had a front row seat for whatever entertain, and I felt the stir of apprehension and knowledge of co horror blow like a cold breeze across my skin