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Bergh and the operator van Niekerk were at it all the time. I 

 could see the regular and repeated movement of van Niekerk's 

 arm as he sat hunched over the table in the tiny cubicle. 



I went back to the hold and got out my supplies. First I took 

 each man a kind of fruit salad of my Lumbo-foraged pineapple, 

 papaw, and banana, sprinkled with sugar and dried milk. They 

 looked at this with astonishment, and Blaauw at least cocked a 

 speculative eye at me, but nobody asked any questions. Then I 

 gave them a round of biscuits and cheese, and in a loud voice so 

 that all, especially Blaauw, could hear, pictured the delights hot 

 coffee would have added. Blaauw sat like a rock without moving 

 a muscle, but Letley flashed me a quick impish grin. 



All this time my brain was buzzing like a machine round the 

 main themes of whether we should be able to land and was it a 

 Goelacanth? As the time grew nearer, I became more and more 

 tortured by doubts and fears. Had I not been an incredible fool 

 to trust a layman's opinion ? Hunt had the pictures and all the 

 information we could give him, but those not expert can easily be 

 mistaken, as we know from hundreds of experiences. The situation 

 was typical of most of my life, either hell or heaven, seldom any- 

 where between. When I asked my wife to marry me, I said I did 

 not know if I could bring her happiness, but I could at least prom- 

 ise that she would never be bored ; and she has eased many a tight 

 corner by reminding me of this with a smile, often a very grim 

 one. 



Here it was again. Could anything be more ridiculous ? In my 

 maturity I had staked virtually my whole life on the identity of 

 a fish I had not seen ; but I tried to push these doubts and fears 

 away, for there was nothing to be done until I got to the fish itself, 

 and that was the present problem. Could we land at Pamanzi? 

 Bergh must have got weary of shaking his head in response to the 

 question on my face that there was no need for my lips to utter. 



Cyclones were never far from my thoughts. I asked Blaauw 

 what hope we should have if one came on. He said that in the air 

 we might manage as long as we had fuel enough to get up and 

 out of range and reach some safe landing ; the greater danger lay 

 in being caught on the ground. Surely the plane could be 

 anchored, I suggested ; but they said it just did not work, time and 

 again it had been tried but the wind always won. As the wind 



