BIGGLES AND THE PENITENT THIEF

by Captain W. E. Johns

6. MIXED NEWS (Pages 51 – 60)

“Land-Ho!” So sang police pilot Bertie Lissie, sitting beside Biggles in the control cabin of the Merlin, the twin-engined 8-seater aircraft on the establishment of the Air Police for long-distance operations”. In the cabin are two other passengers, Ginger and Tommy Miller. Having reached Canada, they have to find Rankinton and the landing ground there. Three weeks have elapsed since Biggles, in a final interview with the Air Commodore, agreed to undertake the mission to recover the stolen jewellery. They had flown the Atlantic via Iceland and Greenland. The arrangement agreed was “something in the nature of a compromise”, which, while not entirely satisfactory from Biggles’ point of view had to be accepted. If Tommy assisted in the recovery of the jewels, his case would be examined in the best possible light. “No definite promise of anything could be give, but it was hinted that a free pardon might be forthcoming”. If he had refused, he would certainly be arrested and brought to trial. So Tommy had accepted, and all that then remained to be done was the organization of the expedition and this had been left to Biggles. The Air Commodore would arrange matters with the Canadian Government and as far as possible with the local authorities. Biggles flies over wild and rugged country and in due course spots “an open area with a white circle in the middle near a seaside settlement. A shed and a wind-stocking on a pole at one end could only mean one thing”. Biggles lands, noticing a helicopter there. A man emerges from a shed dressed in the uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (A footnote tells us they were formed in 1873 as the North West Mounted Police and became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920). The man says “Inspector Bigglesworth from England, I think” and introduces himself as Jack Fraser. He says his orders were to stand by in case he was wanted and he has the keys to the depot should Biggles want to refuel or use the radio. Biggles introduces his party and confirms the helicopter is Fraser’s. Asking about accommodation, Biggles is referred to the Blue Dolphin, “sort of pub, general store and post-office” run by Charley Murray. Asking about Marten Island, Fraser points to a dark mass out to sea. Biggles asks Fraser is he knows anything about a man named Raulstein, who is wanted for double murder, and Angus Campbell. Fraser says he heard about a stranger there who had moved on, but as for Campbell, he is presumed dead, believed to have been drowned at sea. Campbell took his power boat over the island and never returned. Fraser says he has never been to Marten Island himself but if Biggles and his companions want to go he can run them over in his helicopter. Biggles says he will explain why he wants to go after they have had a rest and a meal and a tidy up. Fraser takes them to a large frame-timber building facing the harbour and they go in and meet “a small, wiry man with a freckled face and flaming red hair who had not entirely lost his Scottish accent. Charley Murray”.