NO REST FOR BIGGLES

by Captain W. E. Johns

IX. DESPERATE MEASURES (Pages 90 – 100)

“Still wrestling in his mind with the extraordinary situation that had arisen, out of nowhere, as the saying is, Ginger squatted in the darkest shadow he could find waiting for what might turn out to be the final showdown with von Stalhein, although at the moment, to serve his own ends, the German was actually trying to make a deal with Biggles. Biggles and von Stalhein working together, on the same side! The thing, he pondered, was not to be believed”. (Johns liked the idea as in 1958 he had Biggles rescue von Stalhein from a Russian Gulag in BIGGLES BURIES A HATCHET and then his final four Biggles book appearance would all be as an ally). “At this moment von Stalhein was playing as dangerous a game as could be imagined, for not only was he scheming to double-cross Christophe but his own partner, Zorotov, as well. That wouldn’t worry him, for there were no rules in the Sinister Service; no fouls”. They held one good card. Von Stalhein didn’t know they were there, although he probably suspected they were in the neighbourhood. Ginger tells Bertie that when von Stalhein shows the wire cutters, he’ll grab his wrist through the wire and Bertie can poke his gun in von Stalhein’s ribs. Speed is the thing. Ginger will then cut the wires to let Biggles out. Ginger thinks von Stalhein won’t yell out as he would have to explain what he was doing here. The rest will be up to Biggles. Bertie says Tony Wragg will be in a jam if the Hastings won’t start up. “No worse jam that he’s in here” is Ginger’s response. Biggles arrives with General Mander and Biggles says the rest of the party is waiting to make a rush if the plan works. Ginger asks “What’s the drill if you get out?” “We shall make for the secret plane” says Biggles. Tony Wragg and his party will make for the Hastings. Von Stalhein returns. Apparently recognizing General Mander he wished him a good evening. “I hope you’ve been able to persuade Bigglesworth to bring his common sense to bear on my suggestion,” he added. “The General doubts the integrity of your motives,” put in Biggles, in a faintly bantering tone. “He says he’ll believe in your wire cutters when he sees them”. “His doubts can be soon be settled,” said von Stalhein, putting his right hand in his pocket. “At this crucial moment, Ginger, taking a swift look round to make sure that all was clear, saw, to his consternation, a man hurrying along the inside of the fence – following in von Stalhein’s footsteps, in fact. White ducks told him it was a European. He didn’t wait to see who it was. Biggles was already coughing to cover any slight noise. It was now or never”. Ginger’s arm went between two strands of wire with the speed of a striking snake. His fingers closed round von Stalhein’s wrists and he jerked it towards him with all his strength. Von Stalhein, taken unaware, loses his balance and falls against the wire. The wire cutters fall and von Stalhein jerks free. Bertie, menacing von Stalhein with his pistol orders him to stand still. Then a voice calls out “Von Stalhein, what are you doing there.” It was the voice of von Stalhein’s partner, Zorotov. Zorotov runs up and von Stalhein says “I’ve got my sleeve caught on the wire”. “But Zorotov was not so easily fooled. He obviously trusted his partner so little that he had followed him. Now he realized what was afoot, and gave vent to his rage in a stream of invective. ("Invective" means insulting, abusive, or highly critical language. Who says there is no swearing in the Biggles books? You’re just not told what is said). Then he yells at the top of his voice. “Help! The prisoners are escaping”. Von Stalhein shoots him. At that moment, Ginger found the cutters. Shouting “catch” he threw them to Biggles but they hit the top strand of wire and fell to the floor. Both von Stalhein and Biggles dive for them but Biggles gets them. “By this time turmoil had become something like pandemonium, and Ginger hardly knew what he was doing. People were running in all directions. Bertie was telling von Stalhein in no uncertain voice that he’d shoot if he turned his gun in their direction”. The sentry by the gate came racing down to the prisoner’s pen. A man on the inside ran towards him, crying out something. “That’s Hollweg. Stop him, somebody,” rasped Biggles. “The sentry appeared to lose his head”. The sentry opens fire wildly and Hollweg falls against the wire and finishes in a heap on the ground. Through it all, Biggles uses the wire cutters to cut through the wire. “Von Stalhein, presumably to support the explanations he would have to make to account for his presence there, now ran towards a group of figures coming from the direction of headquarters, shouting that the prisoners were escaping. Even at that crazy moment Ginger realized that it was to silence Zorotov, who would have told a different story, that von Stalhein had shot him”. “Biggles alone seemed reasonably calm. He snapped a shot at the still approaching sentry. He didn’t hit him, or if he did the man gave no sign of it. But the shot served its purpose. The sentry stopped, and must have decided that the job was too big for him to tackle single-handed, for he turned about and bolted, shouting”. “Out you go, General,” ordered Biggles. “Follow on the rest of you and make it snappy”. That told Ginger that the wires had now been cut. Biggles joined him. “Lead on,” he said tersely. “Let’s get out of this madhouse. You know the way”. Ginger runs down the track towards the airfield and the prisoners follow him. They can’t be followed through the wire, unless their pursuers go into the prisoner’s compound as Biggles had, of course, cut through the fence on the prison side of it. In his rush Ginger trips over a wild animal, he doesn’t know what, but he gets up and keeps going. The party follow with Bertie watching the rear. It would only be a matter of minutes before they were pursued so they had to take the chance that no natives were around at this time of night and this seemed to be the case, for although they could hear drums throbbing in several directions, not a soul was seen. They reach the landing ground and see it in the moonlight. Biggles tells Tony that the Hastings is at the far end. He says to him “I’ve got to finish the job I came here to do. With any luck I should soon be following you in the secret plane. If I can’t get it I shall try to burn it”. Ginger tells Tony if he can’t get the Hastings started, he is to head due north for five miles where he will find an open place big enough for a machine to get in. Algy will land there on Friday, perhaps earlier and even if he is in an Auster, he will find a way to get them all out. The General says he doesn’t like the idea of leaving his stolen machine behind. Biggles tells him “We’ll either get your machine or see that no one else gets it”. Tony and the rest of the prisoners set off for the Hastings, leaving Biggles with Ginger and Bertie. They hear a jeep coming down the track and so they set off “at the double” for the opposite side of the landing ground where the secret plane is kept. Ginger asks Biggles if he saw von Stalhein shoot Zorotov adding “What a ruthless, cold-blooded devil he is”. Biggles tells Ginger “He had to do it to save his life. Zorotov realised what he was doing and was off to tell Christophe. Now von Stalhein will say it was Zorotov who gave us the wire cutters, and he caught him in the act”. The jeep arrives at the airstrip and heads towards the hangar of the secret plane. They hear the Hastings’ engines bellow as it taxied into position for take off. “The Hastings roared into the air and disappeared in the night sky”. (“The Hastings roared into the air and disappeared into the night sky” – see page 98 – is the illustration opposite page 96). The secret machine came rumbling out of its lair, and taxi-ing out on to the airstrip took off in the wake of the Hastings. “You know what that means,” said Biggles grimly. “It’s hoping to cut the Hastings’ engines” said Ginger adding “Tony has a good three minutes start. They can’t know which way he’s going and they’ll never find him in the dark”. Biggles tells him “They may not have to find him. It may not be necessary to see him. It all depends on how the weapon works and, as I said before, that’s something we don’t know. If it operates on a beam principle Tony should be all right. But if it broadcasts in all directions then everything will depend on its effective range. Biggles says Christophe may believe they all escaped in the Hastings, but von Stalhein knows them too well to believe that. They decide to just listen. If Tony comes down within ten miles, on a still night, they will hear it. “The drone of aircraft could still be heard in the distance. Deep in the forest drums were still throbbing”.