BIGGLES
FLIES EAST
by Captain W.
E. Johns
V. THE
NEW BULLET (Pages
55 – 63)
Biggles lands and sees von Stalhein
standing by his hangar. He finishes his
run on the far side of the aerodrome and drops the bomb Raymond has given him
onto the sand away from everyone. He
then taxis in and von Stalhein asks him if he has seen Leffens. Biggles says he did see a blue and silver
machine but the heat made visibility bad.
Biggles reports to the Count that the Australian troops are hidden among
the palms around Sidi Arish. When
Biggles leaves he sees von Stalhein examining the
engine of Biggles’ aircraft. Von
Stalhein examines something in the palm of his hand. When he has gone, Biggles goes to look and
finds a bullet hole in the cowling. The
bullet had lodged in the wooden panelling inside and had been dug out by von
Stalhein. Biggles also realises that he
is under the surveillance of two German soldiers. In the German mess, Biggles is listening to
the Germans talking. He is not fluent in
German but he has been studying it and he hears the word “Leffens
… late … new bullets”. A pilot named
Otto Brandt speaks to Biggles and says that Leffens
was carrying a new type of bullet that came only yesterday. Biggles realises that von Stalhein must have
found one in his machine and it is going to be really hard to explain how it
got there. Biggles sees a Halberstadt take off with half a dozen Pfalz scouts and
realises it is the photographic machine with an escort going to check out his
information about the Australians.
Biggles goes to the map room to look at the position of the reservoir
and memorise it. He then returns to his
room. A knock at the door reveals the
Count and von Stalhein; they want to speak to him. The Count asks “Brunow”
(as that’s who he thinks Biggles is, of course) why he has reported a division
of Australian cavalry at Sidi Arish. The
Count reveals that he made up the quest.
“The story I told you of movement of Australian troops from Egypt was
purely imaginary. I merely wished to
test your – er – zeal, to find out how you would act
in such circumstances”. They are
interrupted by Mayer, the Staffel leader of the Halberstadt squadron with a photograph still dripping from
its fixing bath. The photograph clearly
shows troops. The Count is very pleased
and leaves taking von Stalhein with him, telling him there is no time for
anything else. Biggles says to himself
“the sooner I blow up the water-works the better, before my nerve peters out”.