BIGGLES PRESSES ON

More Adventures of Biggles and the Special Air Police

by Captain W. E. Johns

7. THE CASE OF THE FATAL RUBY (Pages 134 – 149)

“Biggles was working at his desk when Ginger placed on it the current issue of a daily newspaper folded to show a picture of a man in flying kit standing beside an aeroplane”. “Does this chap remind you of anyone?” inquired Ginger. Biggles thinks he does but he can’t place him. Ginger pencils on a moustache. “I’ve got him,” returned Biggles. “Hubert Gestner, alias Lancelot Seymour, the fellow we picked up flying stolen treasury notes to France. Although he already had a commercial ticket in Canada, he got the bright idea of joining a club over here as a pupil. Then, while apparently doing solo night flying practice, he was slipping across the Channel. He had a bad record, I remember”. Gestner now calls himself Captain Carson and he runs an independent air-charter company called Zonal Aircom, with just one machine; a pre war Rapide. Ginger tells Biggles “He happens to be the pilot who has undertaken to fly that notorious ruby, the Blood of Asia, to India”. According to the newspaper article, the big companies preferred not to handle the stone as they are afraid that some passengers might not want to be flying in the same plane as the ruby, which has a bad reputation. “The last time, which was the one and only time, that stone travelled by air, the machine’s undercarriage folded up on landing”. The jewel has left a trail of death and disaster half-way across the world. Biggles stares at the photo of Gestner and says “There’s a saying, once a crook always a crook. Gestner, or Carson as he now calls himself, couldn’t go straight if he tried. I know the type. If he starts with that stone, no one will ever see it, or him, again”. Ginger asks if they should warn the people responsible for the ruby but Biggles says they can’t as Gestner has served his time and they could lay themselves open to an action for slander. “An ex-criminal ranks as any other citizen while he goes straight. That’s the law”. Algy spoke. “If you tipped off the insurance company they’d cancel the trip”. Biggles tells him that “Gestner could come on us for damages”. “How much is this pink pebble worth?” asked Bertie. Ginger tells him it is insured for two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. The ruby was originally the eye of an Indian god and it has now been bought by an Indian rajah, “who probably has more money than he knows what to do with”, in order that it can go back to where it started from. Ginger asks Biggles is he believes the tale that the ruby carries a curse because the stone has “caused a score of deaths” (a score being twenty, from the old Norse word "skor" meaning a notch on a stick used for a count of twenty). Biggles knows the story. Two white men pinched the eye of the god and one murdered the other to have sole possession. Louis the Sixteenth bought it for Marie Antoinette and both went to the guillotine. The stone became part of the Hapsburg regalia in Austria and the Crown Prince shot himself and the Empire collapsed. It was then in the Russian Crown jewels and “you know what happened to the Czar and his family”. (Nicholas II and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in a cellar on 17^th July 1918). After the Russian revolution the ruby was bought by an American millionaire, whose son was killed in a motor accident. He then lost all his money and jumped out of a top storey hotel window. The ruby has now been bought and is to be flown to India. “The rajah wants the stone in a hurry in order to replace it before a religious ceremony in about a week’s time”. Biggles decides to tell the Air Commodore about the situation and leave any decision to him. Biggles returns to say that Raymond has “rung up the insurance company and asked them to send round a senior representative, for which I gather he intends to tip him off … in confidence. He’s putting nothing in writing”.

An hour later, Biggles is called to the Air Commodore’s office and introduced to “two senior members of the company that stood to lose a quarter of a million should the ruby disappear”. The insurance policy is signed and the premium paid so they can’t back out now. Biggles is asked how the ruby could be stolen and Biggles guesses Gestner will disappear from his route before he gets to Marseilles. One of the insurance officials asks Biggles if he could follow the plane carrying the ruby when it takes off. Raymond thinks this is a good idea. “I think there’s something in that, Bigglesworth. You say you think he’ll turn off before he reaches Marseilles. Very well. Follow him as far as Marseilles”. It is left to Biggles’ discretion what to do should Gestner leave his course and make a landing.

“Two days later, shortly after dawn, the Air Police Proctor aircraft was in the air, heading south across the Channel on the same course as Gestner’s Rapide, which appeared as a speck in the clear sky about a mile in front”. Biggles and Ginger are in the Proctor. They follow Gestner until the Rapide begins to edge towards the west over France, away from the course to Marseilles. Biggles guesses he is going to the Camargue. Biggles and Ginger have been there previously so know the area. “They graze a lot of sheep there in the spring, but the chief industry, I believe, is breeding bulls for the Spanish bull-fighting arenas. That’s Arles below us, on the northern fringe of the Camargue”. The Rapide flies out to sea and Ginger thinks they will lose him, but then the Rapide turns around. Biggles thinks the pilot is trying not to be seen from the ground as a precaution against future inquiries. Biggles turns into the eye of the sun to avoid being seen and they watch the Rapide land and follow it down. Biggles says “If he abandons the machine we’ll land near him and ask him what he’s doing. We shall have to be careful. He hasn’t stolen the ruby yet. He may say he’s lost his way, or run out of petrol, or was having engine trouble. We should know better, but it might be difficult to prove he was lying”. Biggles thinks Gestner is making for the Bois de Riege, which is the wildest part of the territory. Gestner lands the Rapide then opens the throttle up in order to hide the aircraft in the tall reeds. “There goes the machine,” said Biggles, tersely. “That was no accident. I’m going down to challenge him. He’ll have switched off by now so he’ll see us, anyway”. Gestner sees their aircraft. “No doubt the Proctor’s British registration letter told him the truth, that he had been followed” and he sets off at a run. “Watch out! That’s a bull,” cried Ginger. “My gosh! It’s going for him”. Biggles, who is attempting to land, turns to try and scare the animals below into a stampede in order to save Gestner, but he is too late. “Helpless, they saw the bull overtake him and toss him high into the air. It tossed him again, and then, kneeling, gored him”. (“Helpless, they saw the bull overtake him (page 146)” is the illustration opposite page 144). Biggles lands and taxies up to “where the luckless pilot was lying in a crumpled heap”. He gets out to examine Gestner. “He’s dead,” he told Ginger. “He was terribly injured. He hadn’t a hope. He couldn’t have lived after that first toss whatever we’d done”. Biggles takes a small packet from Gestner’s pocket. Ginger asks if Biggles is going to fly home “with that thing in your pocket?”. Biggles replies “I am”. “Then you can fly alone,” announced Ginger curtly. “I’m going to walk”. Biggles tells him to please himself. “I’m not prepared to admit that I’m scared of a piece of coloured carbon, which is all the ruby is”. (Biggles has got this wrong. Rubies are not made from carbon; diamonds are made from carbon. Rubies are a variety of the mineral corundum, composed of aluminum oxide with trace amounts of chromium, which gives them their red colour). A horseman gallops up and speaks to them in French. Biggles explains “who they were and why they were there, but without mentioning the ruby”. Biggles says “I shall report the matter fully in Paris when I get there. In the meantime would monsieur please inform the nearest police officer so that arrangements can be made for the disposal of the body”. “The gardien said, somewhat curtly, that he would telephone the police bureau at Arles, and with that he went off at a gallop”. Biggles tells Ginger “If you’d rather take the train you’d better start walking” but Ginger changes his mind. “I’ll come with you, but I shall keep my fingers crossed,” muttered Ginger. “Whatever you say, that stone is a killer. I’ve just seen it work. Let’s get off before I lose my nerve. For goodness’ sake mind how you go”. Biggles smiled. “Okay,” he promised. The Proctor returned to London without trouble of any sort. “Phew!” muttered Ginger, as he jumped down. “Am I glad to be out of that? I nearly swooned at every bump. I hardly dared to breathe”. “Rot,” snapped Biggles. “Be yourself. I told you the thing was harmless”.

“Two days later Biggles returned from the Air Commodore’s office to his own with a curious smile on his face”. “Fasten your safety belt,” he told Ginger. “I’m going to give you the shock of your life”. The insurance people had passed on the information about Gestner to the rajah’s agent in London. Without a word to anyone, the agent put the ruby in his pocket and caught the next B.O.A.C. plane to India. Gestner was given a piece of coal in the packet. “At the expression on Ginger’s face Biggles sat down at his desk and laughed and laughed and laughed”.