She saw him coming back bearing a bottle and a tin cup and he paused a moment and

looked helplessly as she rattled the

door He said something and shrugged his shoulders and she knew he could not open
the door, so she bent down and put
her hand through the hole she had made "Down here," she shouted, hoping he did not
realize the opening was new
He squatted before the door and put the bottle and cup just out of her reach
"L'argent," he said in a bass growl "La
monnaie"
She cursed him and pushed a bank-note through the hole He grabbed it and pushed the
tin cup within her reach She
drew it through the hole gently, careful not to spill it, and passed it to Mrs
Warmington When she reached for the bottle it
was still beyond her grasp The soldier grinned and said cheerfully, "L'argent?"and
she was forced to give him more money
before he would let her have the bottle
The water, tepid though it was, was a benison to her dry throat She drank half the
bottle in one swallow and then,
paused, looking at Mrs Warmington who was licking the drop from the rim of the
dirty cup She said, "Take it easy!
this stuff is expensive--it's costing you over four dollars a cup" She put the
bottle in the corner and looked at her watch It
was twelve-thirty
The solider had gone back to sitting in the shade, but he kept his eye on the hut,
hoping for more easy money Julie said, "I
wash to hell he'd go away"
She heard a tapping sound from behind her and turned to look at Mrs Warmington, who
was gazing hopefully into the
cup as though she expected it to fill up by magic The tapping continued and came
from the back of the hut, so Julie went
to the back wall and listened closely There was a familiar but incomplete rhythm
which she recognized as the old shave-
and-a-haircut of her childhood days, so she gave the two taps necessary to complete
the phrase and said in a low voice,
"Who's that?"
"Rawsthorne--don't make a noise"
Her heart leaped in her breast "How did you get her?"
"I followed you when you were brought down here I've been watching from the top of
the quarry I was only able to get
down when that bloody guard went away just now"
"where did he go?" asked Julie urgently
"Up the track and out of sight," said Rawsthore "I think he went as far as the main
road"
"Good!" said Julie "I think I can make him do it again If he goes that far we can
get out of here can you wait there?"
"Yes," said Rawsthorne He sounded very much his age and as though he was
desperately tired "I can wait"
Julie went back and found that Mrs Warmington had finished the bottle of water She
looked up defiantly, and said,
"Well it was my money, wasn't it?"
Julie snatched the bottle from her hands "It doesn't matter now, we're getting out
of here Get ready--and keep quiet"
She went to the door and called out, "L'eau moree l'eau, please," and fluttered
another bank-note through the crack This
time she wasn't quick enough and the soldier snatched it from her before she could
withdraw it He grinned in satisfaction
as he stuffed it into his pocket but made no objection to taking the bottle and cup
She watched him walk out of sight and forced herself to wait two full minutes, then
she swung at the door with the
hammer and with her full strength One of the planks split along its length; it was
rotten with age and lack of point and
another blow shattered it Rawsthorne called, "wait!" and stuck his head through the
opening she had made "Hit it down
there" he said, indicating the area of the lock
She swung the hammer again and the hasp and staple burst out of the rotten wood
and the door creaked open "Come on,"
she said "Make it fast" And ran outside, not really caring if Mrs Warmington
followed or not
"Over here," called Rawsthorne, and she run after him round a corner of rock and
out of sight of the hut "We're still in a
trap," Rawsthorne told her "This quarry is a end, and if we go along the track
we'll meet that guard coming back"
"How did you get down?"
Rawsthorne pointed upwards "I came down there--and nearly broke my neck But we
can't get up that way--not before the
guard comes back--he'd pick us off the cliff like ducks in a shooting gallery "He
looked around "The only thing we can do
is to hide"
"There's a ledge up there," said Rawsthorne "If we lie flat we should be out of
sight of anyone down here Come on, Mrs
Warmington"
It was an awkward climb Julie and Rawsthorne gave the ungainly Mrs Warmington a
boost, and then Rawsthorne went
up and turnd to give Julie his hand She rolled on to the narrow ledge with skinned
knees and flattened herself out
Although she kept her head down she could still see the corner of the hut in the
distance and expected to see the guard
return with the water at any moment
She whispered, "Supposing we do get on top of the quarry--what then?"
"All the troops have gone from the top," said Rawsthorne "They moved out of the
plantation back towards St pierre I think
General Rocambeau is going to attack very soon I thought we could cut across county
behind his armt, moving over the
hills until we reach the Negrito We should be safe enough there" He paused "But we
might not have time; have you looked
at the sky?"
Julie twiated her neck and looked up, wincing as the sun bit into her eyes "I don't
see much--just a few high clouds
Feathery ones"
"There's a hola round the sun," said Rawsthorne "I think the hurricane will be here
soon"
Julie saw a movement near the hut "Hush, he's come back"
The soldier looked at the hut in astonishment and dropped the bottle and the cup,
spilling the water carelessly on the
dusty ground He unslung his rifle and Julie heard quite clearly the snap of metal
as he slipped off the safety-catch He
looked around the quarry and she froze--is she could see him, then he could see her
if he looked carefully enough in the
right direction
Slowly the soldier walked around the hut, he walked with deliberation, his rifle
held ready to shoot, and she heard the
dry crunch of his boots on the ground He came forward intent on searching the
quarry, and cast in a wide circle, peering
into all the nooks and crannies left by the blasting As he came closer he vanished
from sight and Julie held her breath
and hoped the Warmington woman would keep quite, becouse now the man was very
close--she could even hear the rasp
of his breath as he stood below the ledge
And he stood there for a long time There was no movement of his feet at all and
Julie pictured him looking up at the
ledge and wondering if it was worth while climbing up to investigate There was a
clink and a scraping sound as of metal