Part 23 (1/2)
”I beg your pardon?” He looked confused
”If a tourist were to pass away on the island - say of a heart attack you would be called on to embalm his corpse for posterity and to shi+p it out in a casket Areed ”On three occasions”
”Good, so you are familiar with the procedure?”
”I aet yourself a pile of the correct for soon”
”May I ask what you intend to export - in lieu of a cadaver?” He phrased the question delicately
”You may well ask, Mister coker”
I drove down to the fort and spoke to the President's secretary
He was in a , but he would see me at one o'clock if I would care to lunch with him in his office I accepted the invitation and, to pass the hours until then, I drove up the track to Coolie Peak as far as the pick-up would take me There I parked it and walked on to the ruins of the old look-out and signal station I sat on the parapet looking out across a vista of sea and green islands while I s and decision-lad of this opportunity toht of what I wanted fros Turtle Bay, Wave Dancer II and Sherry North, not necessarily in that order of preference
To stay on at Turtle Bay, I had to keep a clean pair of hands in St Mary's, to have Wave Dancer II I needed cash and plenty of it, and Sherry North - well, that took plenty of hard thought, and at the end of it round it out on the stone parapet I took a deep breath and squared e, Harry me lad,” I said and drove down to the fort
The President was delighted to seeout into the reception roo on tiptoe to place an arm around my shoulders and lead me into his office
It was a roo, panelled walls and English landscapes inoils The dia and looked out over the harbour, and the floor was lush with oriental carpets
Luncheon was spread on the oaken conference table below the s smoked fish, cheese and fruit with a bottle of CUteau Lafite ”62 from which the cork had been drawn
The President poured two crystal glasses of the deep red wine, offered one to lass He grinned ie, isn't it?” He raised the glass of rare wine and ice cubes to me ”But, Harry, I knohat I like What is suitable on the Rue Royale isra necessarily suitable on St Mary's”
”Right on, sir!” I grinned back at him and we drank ”Now, my boy, what did you want to talk to one to visit Missus Chubby when I arrived back at the shack, so I went out on to the veranda with a cold beer I went overit word for word, and found s - except the ones I h
hree wooden cases marked ”Canned Fish Produce of Norway” arrived on the ten o'clock plane froency
”Eat your liver, Alfred nobel,” I thought when I saw the legend as Fred coker unloaded them from the hearse at Turtle Bay and I placed them in the rear of the pick-up under the canvas cover
”Until the end of theedy
”Depend upon it, Mister coker,” I assured hih the pal away the stores She looked so different from yesterday's siren, with her hair scraped back, dressed in one of ht-dress, and a pair of faded jeans with raggedy legs cut off below the knees
I helped her carry the cases out to the pick-up, and we climbed into the cab
”Next time we come back here we'll be rich,” I said, and started the round up through the palrove, hit the e We came out on the crest above the town and the harbour
”God da off the road on to the verge so violently that the pineapple truck following us swerved to avoid running into our rear, and the driver hung out of histo shout abuse as he passed
”What is it?” Sherry pulled herself off the dashboard where my ht and cloudless day, the air so clear that every detail of the lovely white and blue shi+p stood out like a drawing She lay at the entrance to Grand Harbour on thecruise shi+ps, or the regular nal flags and I could see her crew in tropical whites lining the rail and staring at the shore The harbour tender was running out to her, carrying the harbour master, the customs inspector and Doctor Macnab
”Mandrake?” Sherry asked
”Mandrake and Manny Resnick,” I agreed, and swung the truck into a U-turn across the road
”What are you going to do?”she asked
”One thing I' to do is show myself in St Mary's while Manny and his fly lads are ashore I've met most of them before in circumstances which are likely to have burned my lovely features clearly into even their rudimentary brains”
Down the hill at the first bus stop beyond the turn off to Turtle Bay was the ss, milk, butter and other perishables The proprietor was delighted to seelottery ticket I paid him, and then closed the door of his back office while I used the telephone
Chubby did not have a phone, but his next-door neighbotir called hi white floating brothel at theis no friend of ours”
”What you want me to do, Harry?”
”Move fast Cover the water cans with stu Get out to sea and come around to Turtle Bay We'll load from the beach and run for Gunfire Reef as soon as it's dark” ”I'll be in the bay in two hours,”he said and hung up
He was there in one hour forty-fivewith him is that you can put money on his promises
As soon as the sun set and visibility was down to a hundred yards we slipped out of Turtle Bay, and ell clear of the island by the time theon a case of gelignite, Sherry and I discussed the arrival of Man&ake in Grand Harbour
”First thing Manny will do, he will send his lads out with a pocketful of bread to ask a few questions around the shops and bars ”Anyone seen Harry Fletcherr” and they'll be queueing up to tell him all about it How Mister Harry chartered Chubby Andrews'stu for seashells If he gets really lucky somebody will point him in the direction of Frederick coker Esquire - and Fred will fall over hiht ”Then ill he do? ”He will have an attack of the vapours when he hears that I didn't drown in the Severn When he recovers from that, he will send a team out to ransack and search the shack at Turtle Bay He will draw a dud card there Then the lovely Miss Lorna Page will lead the Gull That will keep them happy and busy for two or three days - until they find they have nothing but the shi+p's bell”
”Then?”
”Well, then Manny is going to get mad I think Lorna is in line for some unpleasantness - but after that I don't, knoill happen All we can do is try to keep out of” sight and work like a tribe of beavers to get the Colonel's goodies out of the wreck”
The next day the state of the tides was such that we could not navigate the channel before the late ave us tinite and took out ten of the waxy yellow sticks I reclosed the case and buried it with the other two in the sandy soil of the paltove, well away from the camp
Then Chubby and I asse equipment
It was a home-made contraption, but it had proved its efficiency before It consisted of two nine-volt transistor batteries in a siht insulated copper wire, and a cigar-box of detonators Each of the lethal silver tubes was carefully wrapped in cotton wool There was also a selection of time-delayed detonators of the pencil type in the box
Chubby and I isolated ourselves while orked with the the electric detonators to the handmade terminals that I had soldered for the purpose