condensed master

The Reluctant Agent
A Compelling Story of Espionage
It took no time at all to get back into the street and he felt thankful that he still
had life and limb. There was no sign of Blyth's man and Will speculated that he
would have to try and see Blyth during his remaining two days in Bombay.
The ship sailed on schedule after the troops had embarked. He had been
unsuccessful in contacting Blyth during the final days, spending a lot of time in and
around the vicinity of the Taj Mahal Hotel but he saw no one, and nobody
contacted him, leaving the whole affair up in the air.
He was now on the way home to Liverpool, via Durban and Capetown. In
retrospect, his Bombay adventure had been mild in comparison to Aden, but the
Aden incident had a finality about it that was absent here. There were loose ends
that Will had no control over.
Every day that the ship moved further away from India, was one day closer
to getting clear of the monsoon area, and Will was really looking forward to that.
He hated the combination of heat and humidity.
Land came into sight as the ship travelled parallel with the southern tip of the
Island of Madagascar, with just a few more days sailing to reach Durban. The
monsoon weather had been left far behind them and the air was once again fresh
and clear. South Africa was noted for it's hot sun and low humidity, which suited
Will, and he was looking forward to getting ashore, even though they would only
be in Durban for two days maximum.
When the mail came aboard at Durban Will had a letter from home, but there
was no point in writing back as he would be hopefully on leave in three or four
weeks time. The stay in port was so short Will could only manage one excursion
ashore, which was better than none at all, and they were soon heading into the
dreaded Cape rollers, which were relentless lines of waves, travelling West to East
around the Cape of Good Hope.
The ship would just pitch, associated with a shuddering bang, as it fell into the
next trough, and then over the wave again, like clockwork. Within hours Will was
off his food again, and suffering his usual problem, but something worse had
developed.
The constant jarring of the ship had given him a violent headache, so he made
his way up to the dispensary for tablets, to try to get some relief. Having to wait
for attention he sat down with the others, and glancing around the room caught
65