Several tense minutes followed until finally the phone bell rang.

We watched in silence for several tense minutes while the top was peeled back.

For a few tense minutes, there was no answer, only the sound of the wind behind him.

For a few tense, strange minutes he was nowhere to be found.

After a few tense minutes of waiting, Joe got through to his father's operative.

After five tense minutes, this was the first piece of good news.

I had a tense few minutes when the guard changed outside.

The waves had come on us so suddenly that the ship took several long, tense minutes to turn into them.

And so the talk went on, reaching back, for some rather tense minutes, to her childhood.

After many silent, tense minutes she lifted her head slowly.