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Bond dropped off into an uneasy, watchful sleep that was once again peopled by things and creatures out of nightmare-land
18
OUBLIETTE
AT SIX O'CLOCKinthe evening, the deep bell tolled briefly fro of a violet blind over the day Crickets began to zing in a loud chorus and geckos chuckled in the shrubbery The pink dragonflies disappeared and large horned toads appeared in quantities froe of the lake and, so far as Bond could see through his spy-hole, see pools of their eyes Then the four guards reappeared, and there carant smell of a bonfire they had presu the day They went to the edge of the lake and raked in the tattered scraps of blue clothing and, as, presuot under cover as the others pushed their wheelbarrows up the slope and stowed the happily in the dusk until the fourth arrived and then, without noticing the slashed and disarrayed sacks in the shadows, they filed off in the direction of the castle
After an interval, Bond got up and stretched and shook the dust out of his hair and clothes His back still ached, but his overwhelht It ht be his last He sat down and drank a little water and hly-flavoured pe at the water-bottle He took out his single packet of Shinsei and lit up, holding the cigarette between cupped hands and quickly blowing out the s It was bliss! Another drag and the prospect of the night seeht! He thought briefly of Kissy ould now be eating her bean curd and fish and preparing the night's swim in her mind A few hours more and she would be near him But ould have happened in those few hours? Bond sers, then crushed out the stub and pushed the dead fragh a crack in the floor It was seven thirty and already some of the insect noises of sundown had ceased Bond went meticulously about his preparations
At nine o'clock he left the hideout Again the moon blazed down and there was total silence except for the distant burping and bubbling of the fuecko froht before, ca up at the great bat-winged donjon that towered up to the sky He noticed for the first tier was tethered to a pole on the corner of the balustrade surrounding what appeared to be the main floor - the third, or centre one of the five Here, frouessed that this would be his target area He let out a deep sigh and strode quietly off across the gravel and came without incident to the tiny entrance under the wooden bridge
The black ninja suit was as full of concealed pockets as a conjurer's tail coat Bond took out a pencil flashlight and a small steel file and set to work on a link of the chain Occasionally he paused to spit into the deepening groove to lessen the rasp ofsteel and, using the file as a lever, he bent the link open and quietly removed the padlock and chain froave inwards He took out his flashlight and pushed farther, probing the darkness ahead with his thin beam It was as well he did so On the stone floor where his first step past the open door would have taken hifor hi of straw that partially concealed it Bond winced as, in his i as the saw-teeth bit into his leg below the knee There would be other such booby-traps - he must keep every sense on the alert!
Bond closed the door softly behind him, stepped round the trap and swept the bea but velvety blackness He was in soround cellar where no doubt the food supplies for a small army had once been stored A shadoept across the thin beaht and another and another, and there was a shrill squeaking from all around him Bond didn't ht in your hair Their radar was too good He crept slowly forward, watching only the rough stone flags ahead of hireat cellar seeht and left of him and above him an arched, cobwebby roof Yes, here were the stone steps leading upwards! He climbed them softly and counted twenty of them before he came to the entrance, a wide double door with no lock on his side He pushed gently and could feel and hear the resistance of a rickety-sounding lock He took out a heavy jemmy and probed Its sharp jaws notched round some sort of a cross-bolt, and Bond levered hard sideways until there ca sound of old metal and the tinkle of nails or screws on stone He pushed softly on the crack and, with a hideously loud report, the rest of the lock ca open with a screech of old hinges Beyond Was h and listened, his torch doused But he was still deep in the bowels of the castle and there was no sound He switched on again More stone stairs leading up to a modern door of polished timber He went up them and carefully turned the metal door handle No lock this ti stone corridor that sloped on upwards At the end was yet another ht!
Bond walked noiselessly up the incline and then held his breath and put his ear to the keyhole Dead silence! He grasped the handle and inched the door open and then, satisfied, went through and closed the door behind hi it on the latch He was in theentrance door was on his left, and a well-used strip of red carpet stretched away from it and across the fifty feet of hall into the shadows that were not reached by the single large oil lamp over the entrance The hall was not embellished in any way, save for the strip of carpet, and its roof was a itudinal and cross beah plaster-work as covered the walls There was still the same castle-smell of cold stone
Bond kept away frouessed that he was now on the ht ahead was his quarry He ell inside the citadel So far so good!
The next door, obviously the entrance to one of the public rooms, had a simple latch to it Bond bent and put his eye to the keyhole Another dimly lit interior No sound! He eased up the latch, inched the door ajar, and then open, and went through It was a second vast chamber, but this tiuessed, where Blofeld would receive visitors Between tall red curtains, edged with gold, fine set-pieces of ar on the white plaster walls, and there was s on a vast central carpet in royal blue The rest of the floor was of highly polished boards, which reflected back the lights froh, timbered roof, similar to that of the entrance hall, but here with thefor places of conceal softly froe to the next, reached the suessed, lead to the private apartments
He bent down to listen, but immediately' leaped for cover behind the nearest curtains Steps were approaching! Bond undid the thin chain from around his waist, wrapped it round his left fist and took the jelued to a chink in the dusty-s material
The suards He wore a black belt with a holster Would this be Kono, the man who translated for Blofeld? He had probably had so the war -in the Ke? He appeared to be riddling with soht switch? No, there was no electric light Apparently satisfied, the man backed out, bowed deeply to the interior and closed the door He wore no limpse of a surly, slit-eyed brownish face as he passed Bond's place of concealment and walked on across the reception chamber Bond heard the click of the far door and then there was silence He waited a good fivethe curtain so that he could see down the room He was alone
And now for the last lap!
Bond kept his weapons in his hands and crept back to the door This tiuard had bowed Oh well! Probably out of respect for the aura of The Master Bond quietly but firh, ready for the attacking sprint
A totally eeway yawned at his dramatics It stretched perhaps twenty feet in front of him It was dimly lit by a central oil lahly polished boards A 'nightingale floor'? No The guard's footsteps had uttered no warning creaks But fro door at the end caner, the 'Ride of the Valkyries', being played at ht Bond Most helpful cover! And he crept softly forward down the centre of the passage
When it ca One step across the exact halfway point of the flooring and, like a seesaw, the whole twenty feet of boards swivelled noiselessly on so and hands scrabbling desperately for a grip, found hi about behind the door! He had been adjusting the lever that set the trap, the traditional oubliette of ancient castles! And Bond had forgotten! As his body plunged off the end of the inclined platforered by the mechanism of the trap, brayed hysterically Bond had a fractional i back into position above hily into unconsciousness
Bond swa pinpoint of light Why wouldn't so hiot tabis He could feel theh That was as much as Kissy could expect of him 'Kissy,' he mumbled,'stop it! Stop it, Kissy!'
The pinpoint of light expanded, beca while the open hand crashed sideways into his face Piff! Paff! With each slap the splitting pain in his head exploded into a thousand separate pain frage of the boat above hirasp at it He held up the awabis to show that he had done his duty He opened his hands to drop them into the tub Consciousness flooded back and he saw the two handfuls of straw dribble to the ground But the blows had stopped And now he could see, indistinctly, through a uard And so a torch for hi dreadful had happened! Everything had gone wrong! Shier! The clue clicked and total realization swept through Bond's mind Careful, now You're deaf and dumb You're a Japanese ht To hell with the pain in your head Nothing's broken Play it cool Bond put his hands down to his sides He realized for the first time that he was naked save for the brief vee of the black cotton ninja underpants He bowed deeply and straightened himself Kono, his hand at his open holster, fired furious Japanese at hi down his face and looked blank, stupid Kono took out his sot to his feet, and, with a brief glance round the straw-strewn oubliette into which he had fallen, followed the unseen guard with the torch out of the cell