As they waited, two negroes came down the steps from the surface, picked up one of the prepared tanks and went back up the steps with it.
Bond guessed the tanks were stocked with sand and weed and fish somewhere up above and then passed to the human chain that stretched down the cliff face.
Bond noticed that some of the waiting tanks had gold ingots fitted in the centre, and others a gravel1 of jewels, and he revised his estimate of the treasure, quadrupling it to around four million sterling2.
Mr. Big stood for a few moments with his eyes on the stone floor. His breathing was deep but controlled. Then they went on up.
Twenty steps higher there was another landing, smaller and with a door leading off it. The door had a new chain and padlock on it. The door itself was made of platted iron slats, brown and corroded3 with rust4.
Mr. Big paused again and they stood side by side on the small platform of rock.
For a moment Bond thought of escape, but, as if reading his mind, the negro guard crowded him up against the stone wall away from The Big Man. And Bond knew his first duty was to stay alive and get to Solitaire and somehow keep her away from the doomed5 ship where the acid was slowly eating through the copper6 of the timefuse.
From above, a strong draught7 of cold air was coming down the shaft8 and Bond felt the sweat drying on him. He put his right hand up to the wound in his shoulder, undeterred by the prick9 of the guard's dagger10 in his side. The blood was dry and caked and most of the arm was numb11. It ached viciously.
Mr. Big spoke12.
'That wind, Mister Bond,' he pointed13 up the shaft, 'is known in Jamaica as "The Undertaker's Wind".'
Bond shrugged14 his right shoulder and saved his breath.
Mr. Big turned to the iron door, took a key from his pocket and unlocked it. He went through and Bond and his guard followed.
It was a long, narrow passage of a room with rusty15 shackles17 low down in the walls at less than yard intervals18.
At the far end, where a hurricane light hung from the stone roof, there was a motionless figure under a blanket on the floor. There was one more hurricane light over their heads near the door, otherwise nothing but a smell of damp rock, and ancient torture, and death.
'Solitaire,' said Mr. Big softly.
Bond's heart leapt and he started forward. At once a huge hand grasped him by the arm.
'Hold it, white man,' snapped his guard and twisted his wrist up between his shoulder-blades, hefting it higher until
Bond lashed19 out with his left heel. It hit the other man's shin, and hurt Bond more than the guard.
Mr. Big turned round. He had a small gun almost covered by his huge hand.
'Let him go,' he said, quietly. 'If you want an extra navel, Mister Bond, you can have one. I have six of them in this gun.'
Bond brushed past The Big Man. Solitaire was on her feet, coming towards him. When she saw his face she broke into a run, holding out her two hands.
'James,' she sobbed20. 'James.'
She almost fell at his feet. Their hands clutched at each other.
'Get me some rope,' said Mr. Big in the doorway21.
'It's all right, Solitaire,' said Bond, knowing that it wasn't. 'It's all right. I'm here now.'
He picked her up and held her at arm's length. It hurt his left arm. She was pale and dishevelled. There was a bruise22 on her forehead and black circles under her eyes. Her face was grimy and tears had made streaks23 down the pale skin. She had no make-up. She wore a dirty white linen24 suit and sandals. She looked thin.
'What's the bastard25 been doing to you?' said Bond. He suddenly held her tightly to him. She clung to him, her face buried in his neck.
Then she drew away and looked at her hand.
'But you're bleeding,' she said. 'What is it?'
She turned him half round and saw the black blood on his shoulder and down his arm.
'Oh my darling, what is it?'
She started to cry again, forlornly, hopelessly, realizing suddenly that they were both lost.
'Tie them up,' said The Big Man from the door. 'Here under the light. I have things to say to them.'
The negro came towards them and Bond turned. Was it worth a gamble? The negro had nothing but rope in his hands. But The Big Man had stepped sideways and was watching him, the gun held loosely, half pointing at the floor.
'No, Mister Bond,' he said simply.
Bond eyed the big negro and thought of Solitaire and his own wounded arm.
The negro came up and Bond allowed his arms to be tied behind his back. They were good knots. There was no play in them. They hurt.
Bond smiled at Solitaire. He half closed one eye. It was nothing but bravado26, but he saw a hopeful awareness27 dawn through her tears.
The negro led him back to the doorway.
'There,' said The Big Man, pointing at one of the shackles.
The negro cut Bond's legs from under him with a sudden sweep of his shin. Bond fell on his wounded shoulder. The negro pulled him by the rope up to the shackle16, tested it, and put the rope through and then down to Bond's ankles which he bound securely. He had stuck his dagger in a crevice28 in the rock. He pulled it out and cut the rope and went back to where Solitaire was standing29.
Bond was left sitting on the stone floor, his legs straight out in front, his arms hoisted30 up and secured behind him. Blood dripped down from his freshly opened wound. Only the remains31 of the benzedrine in his system kept him from fainting.
Solitaire was bound and placed almost opposite him. There was a yard between their feet.
When it was done, The Big Man looked at his watch.
'Go,' he said to the guard. He closed the iron door behind the man and leant against it.
Bond and the girl looked at each other and The Big Man gazed down on both of them.
After one of his long silences he addressed Bond. Bond looked up at him. The great grey football of a head under the hurricane lamp looked like an elemental, a malignant32 spectre from the centre of the earth, as it hung in mid33 air, the golden eyes blazing steadily34, the great body in shadow. Bond had to remind himself that he had heard its heart pumping in its chest, had heard it breathe, had seen sweat on the grey skin. It was only a man, of the same species as himself, a big man, with a brilliant brain, but still a man who walked and defecated, a mortal man with a diseased heart.
The wide rubbery mouth split open and the flat slightly everted lips drew back from the big white teeth.
'You are the best of those that have been sent against me,' said Mr. Big. His quiet flat voice was thoughtful, measured. 'And you have achieved the death of four of my assistants. My followers35 find this incredible. It was fully36 time that accounts should be squared. What happened to the American was not sufficient. The treachery of this girl,' he still looked at Bond, 'whom I found in the gutter37 and whom I was prepared to put on my right hand, has also brought my infallibility in question. I was wondering how she should die, when providence38, or Baron39 Samedi as my followers will believe, brought you also to the altar with your head bowed ready for the axe40.'
The mouth paused, with the lips parted. Bond saw the teeth come together to form the next word.
'So it is convenient that you should die together. That will happen, in an appropriate fashion,' The Big Man looked at his watch, 'in two and a half hours' time. At six o'clock, give or take,' he added, 'a few minutes.'
'Let's give those minutes,' said Bond. 'I enjoy my life.'
'In the history of negro emancipation,' Mr. Big continued in an easy conversational41 tone,' there have already appeared great athletes, great musicians, great writers, great doctors and scientists. In due course, as in the developing history of other races, there will appear negroes great and famous in every other walk of life.' He paused. 'It is unfortunate for you, Mister Bond, and for this girl, that you have encountered the first of the great negro criminals. I use a vulgar word, Mister Bond, because it is the one you, as a form of policeman, would yourself use. But I prefer to regard myself as one who has the ability and the mental and nervous equipment to make his own laws and act according to them rather than accept the laws that suit the lowest common denominator of the people. You have doubtless read Trotter's Instincts of the Herd42 in War and Peace, Mister Bond. Well, I am by nature and predilection43 a wolf and I live by a wolf's laws. Naturally the sheep describe such a person as a "criminal".
'The fact, Mister Bond,' The Big Man continued after a pause,' that I survive and indeed enjoy limitless success, although I am alone against countless44 millions of sheep, is attributable to the modern techniques I described to you on the occasion of our last talk, and to an infinite capacity for taking pains. Not dull, plodding45 pains, but artistic46, subtle pains. And I find, Mister Bond, that it is not difficult to outwit sheep, however many of them there may be, if one is dedicated47 to the task and if one is by nature an extremely well-equipped wolf.
'Let me illustrate48 to you, by an example, how my mind works. We will take the method I have decided49 upon by which you are both to die. It is a modern variation on the method used in the time of my kind patron, Sir Henry Morgan. In those days it was known as "keel-hauling".'
'Pray continue,' said Bond, not looking at Solitaire.
'We have a paravane on board the yacht,' continued Mr. Big as if he was a surgeon describing a delicate operation to a body of students, 'which we use for trawling for shark and other big fish. This paravane, as you know, is a large buoyant torpedo-shaped device, which rides on the end of a cable, away from the side of a ship, and which can be used for sustaining the end of a net, and drawing it through the water when the ship is in motion, or if fitted with a cutting device, for severing50 the cables of moored51 mines in time of war.
'I intend,' said Mr. Big, in a matter-of-fact discursive52 tone of voice,' to bind53 you together to a line streamed from this paravane and to tow you through the sea until you are eaten by sharks.'
He paused, and his eyes looked from one to the other. Solitaire was gazing wide-eyed at Bond and Bond was thinking hard, his eyes blank and his mind boring into the future. He felt he ought to say something.
'You are a big man,' he said, 'and one day you will die a big, horrible death. If you kill us, that death will come soon. I have arranged for it. You are going mad very fast or you would see what our murder will bring down on you.'
Even as he spoke Bond's mind was working fast, counting hours and minutes, knowing that The Big Man's own death was creeping, with the acid in the fuse, round the minute hand towards his personal hour of final rendezvous54. But would he and Solitaire be dead before that hour struck? There would not be more than minutes, perhaps seconds in it. The sweat poured off his face on to his chest. He smiled across at Solitaire. She looked back at him opaquely55, her eyes not seeing him.
Suddenly she gave an agonized56 cry that made Bond's nerves jerk.
'I don't know,' she cried. 'I can't see. It's so near, so close. There is much death. But…'
'Solitaire,' shouted Bond, terrified that whatever strange things she saw in the future might give a warning to The Big Man. 'Pull yourself together.'
There was an angry bite in his voice.
Her eyes cleared. She looked dumbly at him, without comprehension.
The Big Man spoke again.
'I am not going mad, Mister Bond,' he said evenly, 'and nothing you have arranged will affect me. You will die beyond the reef and there will be no evidence. I shall tow the remains of your bodies until there is nothing left. That is part of the dexterity57 of my intentions. You may also know that shark and barracuda play a role in Voodooism. They will have their sacrifice and Baron Samedi will be appeased58. That will satisfy my followers. I wish also to continue my experiments with carnivorous fish. I believe they only attack when there is blood in the water. So your bodies will be towed from the island. The paravane will take them over the reef. I believe you will not be harmed inside the reef. The blood and offal that is thrown into these waters every night will have dispersed59 or been consumed. But when your bodies have been dragged over the reef, then I'm afraid you will bleed, your bodies will be very raw. And then we will see if my theories are correct.'
The Big Man put his hand behind him and pulled the door open.
'I will leave you now,' he said,' to reflect on the excellence60 of the method I have invented for your death together. Two necessary deaths are achieved. No evidence is left behind. Superstition61 is satisfied. My followers pleased. The bodies are used for scientific research.
'That is what I meant, Mister James Bond, by an infinite capacity for taking artistic pains.'
He stood in the doorway and looked at them.
'A short, but very good night to you both.'
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1
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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corroded
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| 已被腐蚀的 | |
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rust
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| n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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7
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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8
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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prick
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| v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛 | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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12
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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13
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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14
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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15
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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16
shackle
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| n.桎梏，束缚物；v.加桎梏，加枷锁，束缚 | |
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17
shackles
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| 手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊 | |
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18
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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19
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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20
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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21
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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22
bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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23
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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24
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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25
bastard
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| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
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26
bravado
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| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
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awareness
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| n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智 | |
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28
crevice
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| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
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29
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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30
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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37
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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38
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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40
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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41
conversational
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| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
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42
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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43
predilection
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| n.偏好 | |
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44
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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45
plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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46
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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47
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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48
illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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49
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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50
severing
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的现在分词 )；断，裂 | |
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51
moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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52
discursive
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| adj.离题的，无层次的 | |
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53
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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54
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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55
opaquely
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| adv.不透明地，无光泽地 | |
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56
agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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57
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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58
appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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59
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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60
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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61
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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