BIGGLES OF THE INTERPOL

by Captain W. E. Johns

7. BIGGLES MAKES A BET (Pages 119 – 135)

“When Biggles walked into the office of his French opposite number, at the Surete in Paris, he was greeted with a smile and the remark: “Ah! The old dog himself. You come hot of the foot, eh?” “I seem to go through life hot-foot,” answered Biggles sadly, as they shook hands. “You said you wanted to see me. Here I am. What’s your trouble?” “My trouble. La la. I think perhaps it is your trouble” is the reply and Marcel explains that two weeks ago “one of your smart English boys” named Peter Keston, age nineteen, stole a light plane from the Lotton Flying Club and fly it to France. He burst a tyre trying to land and gave himself up. The French sent him home and he was sentenced to one month in prison. Marcel adds “Why does he only have a month when another silly fellow gets twelve months for stealing five pounds? I will tell you. Because, says the judge, it was a sporting effort to fly without lessons. You English are sport mad. Tiens Tiens”. Marcel asks Biggles if he believes the story that Keston flew without lessons. Biggles says he saw no reason to check up on it. Marcel says he wants to show Biggles something and taking Biggles’ Auster aircraft, they fly from Le Bourget to a big wood by the village of Charmentray. Marcel gets Biggles to land in the same field that Keston landed in. Biggles really struggles to land; he overshoots and then nearly hits the trees. Marcel teases him with “Don’t tell me an old fox like you can’t do in daylight what a boy on his first solo can do by night!” Biggles makes three more false runs before he manages to get in and land. Biggles accepts that only a pilot of experience could get in and land there. Marcel asks why Keston would come to France by night and then land in a wood, when he had a choice of big fields. Biggles says “I’ll go and have a word with this young man. He’s still in gaol so I shall know where to find him”. Back in England, the same afternoon, Biggles goes to see Keston in prison and says “As one pilot to another I want you to tell me why you flew to France the other night”. Biggles presses Keston to get the truth out of him and Keston admits that he was half-way to his commercial ticket, and through no fault of his own, he ran out of money. Biggles tells Keston he believes he’s got the makings of a top grade pilot and gives him his card. When Keston sees the names Bigglesworth on the card, he says “I’ve heard of you” and is prepared to give more information. He says he did it for a bet. A slick American bet him fifty quid he couldn’t fly to France and back. “I’d have to hand a letter to a pal of his who’d be waiting, showing a red light, at a certain spot, and bring any answer back. I said okay. Not having a plane I borrowed one”. The letter turned out to be a packet and he was only given twenty pounds, the other thirty was due when he got back, but he burst a tyre. Keston said he hid the twenty pounds in a rabbit hole as it was illegal to export sterling currency. “In giving myself up I gambled on a light sentence”. Biggles says “Quite a gambler, aren’t you? All right. Now I’ll make a bet. A fiver you don’t know the name or address of your pal”. “No bet. He forgot to tell me” is the reply. “Very well. Then I’ll wager you never see the colour of your other thirty pounds – and I’ll fetch your twenty from France into the bargain”. Keston says he won’t rat on the man, if he comes up with the thirty quid he owes him. Biggles got up. “When your pal fails to turn up you’ll find me at the Yard”. A fortnight later, there was a knock on the door of the Air Police Operations Room and Keston walked in. Biggles smiled. “So he didn’t pay”. Biggles takes some five pound notes from a drawer. “Here’s the money you left in France”. Keston thanks Biggles and offers him a note. “The bet was a fiver he didn’t pay. Well, he hasn’t paid, so I lose. When I lose I pay”. Biggles tells him to keep it. “I like my money clean”. When asked what was the idea of the bet, Biggles says “The idea was, if this crook didn’t pay, you’d help me to find him – and make him pay”. Keston says “I’d make him pay on my own account if I could find him”. “Fair enough, Keston. That’s what I mean – we’ll do the job together” says Biggles. Biggles goes on to say that this chap will probably do it again. “The chances are that at this very moment your pal is looking for another poor sap to do his dirty work for him”. He will be hanging around another airfield. Biggles tells Keston that Ginger will fly him around all the clubs in the country until Keston spots the man, but Keston mustn’t let himself be spotted. Keston asks about his thirty pounds and Biggles tells him the man has no intention of paying him and he doubts he is entitled to the money as it was a bribe to make him break the law. The man is an American and Ginger is told to start with flying club fields near American camps. Four days later, Keston walks into the Ops. Room to tell Biggles that Ginger is on the trail. They found the man watching the flying at Cliverton Club airfield. Keston returned home by train to report. Ginger was hoping to be picked up himself. Biggles says if that comes off, we shall hear from him on the high frequency radio. Algy is on radio duty the same night when, after dark, the signal comes through. “Ginger’s on his way to France with a packet” he reported to Biggles. Biggles asks “What’s his objective?” “Charmentray – the same landing ground as Keston. A red light will mark the actual spot”. Biggles tells Algy that they can’t let Ginger handle a job like this single-handed, it’s too dangerous. Algy is instructed to tell Ginger to fly to Le Bourget and wait for Biggles there. Biggles will speak with Marcel at the Surete. “It was nearly three hours later when the police Auster arrived over the Charmentray rendezvous. In it were Biggles, Ginger and Marcel Brissac of the French Air Police. They see a red light and Biggles lands without mishap. He gets out alone and goes to a man emerging from the gloom. The man puts a small parcel into Biggles’ hands. Biggles catches him by the arm and starts to say “I’m a police officer, and I …” The man pulls away and Biggles trips him. Marcel and Ginger arrive. The man pulls a gun and the pistol blazes from his hip. It takes all three of them to get him handcuffed. “Then some men whom Marcel had sent down by road ran up and that settled the matter”. Biggles opens the packet that had been given to Ginger to deliver and finds counterfeit dollar bills. Marcel is holding a blood-stained handkerchief to his cheek as he has been slightly wounded. Marcel tells the man he would have gone to prison for a long time for the counterfeit bills, but for shooting a police officer it will be much longer and he has his man take him away. Biggles then opens the package given to him by the man and finds it contains Marijuana cigarettes. He tells Marcel he will take these with him, then Biggles flies Marcel back to Le Bourget where a doctor can look at his face.

Back at Air Police headquarters, Biggles and Ginger meet with Air Commodore Raymond and Colonel Dawson, a staff security officer of the United States Air Force in Britain and they brief Dawson on what has been going on. Raymond tells Dawson “The man importing these coffin nails may be a civilian, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that his customers are” adding “Marijuana is practically unknown over here. Have you noticed any unusual behaviour among your pilots or air crews?” Dawson accepts they have – low flying and lunatic stunting – with a couple of ugly crack-ups. “There’s also been a lot of rowdyism, fighting, and so on, for no reason that we’ve been able to discover”. Dawson is willing to let the Air Police deal with things and leaves. Biggles wants Ginger to deliver the cigarette box filled with ordinary cigarettes to the man paying him. “The box itself will smell enough of marijuana to prevent any suspicion of a switch”. Two of Inspector Gaskin’s professional sleuths can then follow the man to where the dope is going, then Biggles will pick up “this dope peddler”. When Ginger lands at Cliverton aerodrome, Biggles is already there watching an American standing drinks for everyone. Biggles has found out his name is Caulder. Caulder watches Ginger arrive and then goes out to meet him. Ginger explains his delay by saying “Had to drop in at Lympne with a sticky valve”. Caulder takes the parcel and leaves without paying Ginger the promised money, laughing at his request for it. He drives off in a sports car. Biggles takes Ginger for tea. Soon, a plain-clothes policeman joins them to report that they followed Caulder and “He’s in the village, in the bar of the Black Horse, selling gaspers to American flyers at five dollars a time. My mate is watching him”. Biggles and Ginger go to the village inn and find Caulder being threatened. “Looks as if the boys object to paying five bucks for ordinary tobacco,” Biggles told Ginger quietly. Biggles goes up to Caulder and tells him he is a police officer. There is a general rush for the door, which dies abruptly when the U.S. Station Commandant arrives, with the military police behind him. The Commandant looks around the room and orders the arrest of Caulder when he lays eyes on him. The Commandant tells Biggles that Caulder “deserted from my squadron when we were with the occupation forces in Germany”. Biggles smiled faintly. “That,” he said evenly, “shouldn’t make the next few years any easier for him".