BIGGLES HITS THE TRAIL

by Captain W. E. Johns

IV. THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT (Pages 70 – 83)

Firstly, they refill the aircraft’s fuel tanks, then check the engines and then have a meal. Ginger, who is a qualified engineer can find nothing wrong with the engines. Ginger goes to get fresh water from a stream and finds a dead centipede, the size of a sausage. “Take it away, Ginger,” said the Professor sharply. (It is interesting to note how Dickpa is referred to both as the Professor one minute and then within a few lines as Dickpa again). “What do you propose to do next, Biggles?” asked Dickpa when they had finished. They pitch a tent as there is not enough room for them all to sleep in the cabin. “While this was being done Biggles unloaded their complete armaments, which consisted of a Lewis machine-gun, an express rifle, a twelve-bore double barrelled gun and two revolvers”. The sun sinks while the explorers are in the tent. They discuss turning in and agree turns to keep watch during the night. Biggles leaves the tent and then calls out everyone outside to see what he can see. “Immediately above the mountains the sky was illuminated by a phosphorescent glow. It was not constant; it waxed and waned like the reflection of a colossal blast-furnace, but instead of being red it was a cold, vivid, electric blue”. They walk to the top of a “scarp” and see the mountain of light. “A conical point of glowing blue light rose high into the heavens. The general effect was that of an iceberg, the top of which had been floodlit by lamps that alternated turquoise and violet, but infinitely more intense”. (A conical point of glowing blue light rose high into the heavens - is the illustration on page 81). The Professor says “There must be a tremendous amount of radium – if it is radium – in that mountain, to produce such an effect. At to-day’s value the man who owned it could buy the rest of the world”. (An article in the New York Times in 1908 said the price of Radium was up to $40,000,000 per pound. As of 1954, the total worldwide supply of purified Radium was only five pounds, that being about 2.3 kg (2300g). Even in the 21^st Century production is only about 100g per year). Biggles takes a compass bearing and estimates it is between four and seven miles away. He suspects they won’t be able to fly to it, due to the effect on the engines but they can walk to it tomorrow. They turn in for the night.