BIGGLES AND THE PENITENT THIEF

by Captain W. E. Johns

4. POINTS OF VIEW (Pages 38 – 45)

“At a little after six o’clock the same evening, Biggles, with Ginger besides him in the car, pulled up outside the little suburban villa in Weybridge which Dusty Miller had given as his address”. A sad-looking woman answers the door and asks “You come to take my boy away?” “No. Not this time,” replied Biggles cheerfully and he confirms he is speaking to Mrs. Miller. They are invited in and Dusty Miller meets them. Biggles tells him there is no news, at least no bad news, so far. “Slouching in an easy chair was a young man carelessly dressed in a polo-necked pullover and tight-fitting slacks. He wore his heard rather long. His face was lean and pale, showing the cheek bones, as if he had been through an illness. His expression was taciturn, and the eyes he turned on the visitors were sullen with suspicion. He did not move”. “Brought the handcuffs with you?” he inquired sourly. “I shan’t need them this evening, possibly not at all,” returned Biggles easily, perceiving from Tommy’s uncompromising manner that the interview would require tact if he was to get anywhere. Biggles says he wants a chat and his purpose in coming is to try and help Tommy. “I’ll believe that when you’ve proved it. As far as I’m concerned you’re just another cop”. “If you’re going to take that attitude I’m afraid we shan’t get very far,” Biggles said reprovingly. Biggles asks Tommy if he is prepared to help them with their inquiries. “If you’re not, say so, and you can go your own way”. Tommy says he is prepared to talk under certain conditions, those being that he is left alone afterwards. Biggles says he can’t guarantee that at the moment. He asks Tommy if he would give evidence against Raulstein, “In other words, turn Queen’s Evidence”. Tommy replies “Yes. I’ll do that. I’d see him hanged, the dirty murderer”. (The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging and took place in 1964; capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969. This book was published in September 1967 but probably written some considerable time before. When Johns died in June 1968, he had another four books already written and waiting to be published and was more than half way through a fifth). “Fair enough. Now you’re talking sense” replies Biggles. Tommy says he last saw Raulstein the morning he left Rankinton, that being the village where Campbell had taken them. Tommy said he had had all he wanted of that swine Raulstein and he thought he might remember that Tommy had picked up the ring that Lew Darris dropped. Biggles asks about the island, which was called Marten Island by Campbell, could he land a plane there? Tommy says that most islands are flat around the coast and rise to a hill in the middle but Marten Island is the other way around. On the outside it is mostly cliffs and the middle is a sort of basin. Tommy was there in the autumn, but Campbell had told him the most difficult time was the winter, because of the snow. He had built the log cabin in case he got stuck. Tommy also says the island was foggy on and off, most of the time they were there. Tommy says there is no need to land an aeroplane on the island as there is an aerodrome at Rankinton, on the main land, used by the “Mounties”, the Canadian Mounted Police. Biggles confirms that as far as Tommy knows, Raulstein planned to stay on and return to the island to get the swag, but he would have no chance of finding it, not knowing which hole Tommy put it down. Biggles asks Tommy if he would go back with him to show him where it was. “That needs thinking about,” replied Tommy, reverting to his earlier attitude of suspicion and mistrust. “As I see it, knowing what I know is the only trump card I hold against being nicked”. “Don’t fool yourself, Tommy,” advised Biggles sternly. “You hang on to that trump too long and you may find yourself in the nick anyway”. Tommy wants to know if the jewels were insured and if there is a reward for their recovery. Biggles tells him any reward is for the return of the stolen property and the conviction of the guilty party. The money won’t do him much good if he is doing a ten-year stretch. Dusty Miller tells his son “You might as well come clean, lad. It’ll pay you in the long run. Trust the police to give you a square deal. You’ve gone too far, anyhow, to back out now”. Biggles agrees and tells Tommy he will leave him to think it over. Back at the car, Biggles tells Ginger he thinks Tommy will be all right with him (Biggles) from now on and the rest depends on how the Home Office decides to deal with him.