CHAPTER 1<br >The lower slopes on either side of the deep， twisting valley<br >were covered with pines; there was also the occasional<br >evergreen oak standing proudly tall. The upper slopes were<br >bare and on them grew only the occasional clump of weed<br >grass， wild thyme， rock cistus， or thistle; in parts， their<br >nearly sheer faces had been striated by the weather so that<br >it looked as if in some past age they had been worked by<br >man. Ahmg the bed of the valley there ran a torrente，<br >normally dry， but very occasionally carrying roaring flood<br >water.<br > A road ran along the west side of the valley for a couple<br >of kilometres; then， in a succession of sharp-angled bends，<br >wound down to tile bridge which spanned the torrente. This<br >road was unfenced throughout its length， even though at a<br >couple of points the drop beyond was as much as thirty<br >metres. Nervous drivers stuck nervously to the middle of<br >the road， preferring the risk of meeting an oncoming vehicle<br >head-on rather than approaching too close to the dangerous<br >edge. For some years there had been a plan to erect Arinco<br >barriers at tile most dangerous spots， but this had low priority<br >since t~ w of the millions of tourists ventured so far away<br >from the sand and the sea.<br > Tim Ford Fiesta rounded one very sharp bend with scrab-<br >bling tyres and raced down towards the next one; its speed<br >in such circumstances was so dangerous that it suggested<br >either mechanical trouble or an incapacitated driver. Near<br >the second bend， violent braking made the tyres squeal and<br >the car entered into an incipient skid and the back wheels<br >slid within a metre of tile edge of the road， just past the<br >apex. A driver with even a vestigial sense of self-protection<br >would l/ave backed right off as he sent a brief" prayer of<br >