|
In Kribi, a fictional state in French West Africa, a penniless prospector called Rory Fielding is engaged to drive Louis Manduc and Pauline Orbichet to an inland settlement. A girl called Helene Frejus, daughter of a professor of ornithology doing research in the country, asks for a lift. It turns out that Manduc and Pauline are going to see an old recluse called Dominique Lauriac. He was once an associate of Manduc in diamond smuggling, but has tried to redeem himself with good works. However, he still has a bag of diamonds which Manduc wants. Helene and Rory frustrate the theft, but then Helene double-crosses Rory and there are several long chases and fights, with predictable outcomes. |
Serialised in eight daily parts in the Evening Standard from Tuesday 24 February to Wednesday 3 March, 1959. Reprinted in Delay on Turtle and other stories, Hodder and Stoughton, 1962. |