It was taking precious seconds, but he had to think what to say.

It took a few precious seconds before I could see clearly again.

He opened his eyes, looking down on her face, desperate to remember every precious second.

It was only in those precious few seconds that he had a chance of getting a message out.

If he gave them a chance to protest, precious seconds would be lost.

Each time precious seconds were used to discover where he had actually gone.

This took precious extra seconds but was always worth the effort.

It would take precious seconds to get the weapon up and ready to fire.

A man could lose precious seconds by using the safety catch.

He took the precious seconds needed to dog it shut.