himself into a ball. He brought his legs up to his chest and slowly and painfully was able to bring his hands up and over his feet and now his arms were in front of him.
Struggling to get air through the hood, breathing hard, his chest rising and falling he reached behind his neck and scrabbled at the knot holding the hood. Finally he was able to yank the hood off and take a huge gulp of air. At first the bright light temporarily blinded him and he raised his hands up to his face to shield his eyes from the light until they adjusted.
Dennis reached forward to tackle the knots around his ankles. They were too tight. Then he felt one of them give a little, just a touch, but it was enough to give him hope. The tips of his fingers were by now numb and then the knot loosened. Dennis paused and opened and closed his fingers, flexing them. Then as some feeling flowed back to his fingertips he reached forward again and attacked the knot. Suddenly it came loose and he undid the ropes around his shins. Now he was able to roll over and get to his knees and slowly stand up. He did a quick scan of his surroundings. He was obviously in the hold of the ship. There were lights at even intervals along the walls. Running the entire length of one of the walls was a metal workbench with a large vice at one end. There were also some large tool chests fixed to the wall and Dennis rushed over to them. He opened very stiff drawers. He found some chisels and picking one up he tried to position it in his hands to cut the ropes. It was no good. He dropped the chisel and continued to rummage in the chest. Then his eyes lit up when he saw the Stanley knife. He pulled it from the drawer, slid the blade out with the little switch, turned the knife and began sawing at the ropes with the very thin blade. It was slow and difficult but eventually one of the rope cords was cut and the two ends peeled away from each other. Dennis set to work on the next one. He felt the ship turn again and he had to lean in to the worktop to keep his balance. Finally his hands were free and he pulled the ropes away.
Dennis continued searching the drawers for anything he could use. In the bottom drawer were some heavy spanners. He took a heavy two foot long one out and did a couple of practice swings with it. It would be slow but very effective.
Dennis closed the drawers gently then stopped. He could hear voices and laughter. He ran to the door and listened. The voices were directly outside. Dennis ran back to the overturned chair. He grabbed the cut ropes from the floor, picked the hood up and quickly shoved it over his head, wrapped the ropes loosely around his hands and threw himself down next to the chair. Dennis heard the hand wheel on the door being turned and the heavy door creaked open. When the four men entered the compartment Dennis was writhing on the floor and groaning.
The four stopped and chuckled when they saw him. Dennis’ senses were tuned and he heard the footsteps as they got closer. Somebody said something in French and Dennis could tell by the accent that the person was a negro. Someone replied to the man and there was more laughter. Then Dennis sensed someone standing over him and rough hands grabbed the boiler suit he was wearing and hauled him to his feet.
“Did you hurt yourself when you fell off your chair?” the man said in a baby voice in English, mocking the journalist.
The others chuckled. Dennis pretended to still be groggy. The man holding him was trying to steady him. Dennis suddenly launched himself forward and head butted the man in the face. As the man fell away holding a broken nose and howling with pain, Dennis ripped the hood off and lunged at the next man nearest him hoping he still had the element of surprise. This man was also caught unawares and Dennis was able to land a few punches to this man’s face. Dennis ducked as a fist came at him from the side and as the arm sailed past above his head he turned and landed punches in