BIGGLES HITS THE TRAIL

by Captain W. E. Johns

V. THE SILVER STREAM (Pages 84 – 100)

Biggles tries out the Explorer’s engines but they are giving no more than three-quarter normal full revs. He takes off alone and tries flying to the mountain but returns as they engines get worse the nearer he gets to the mountains. They set off to walk to the mountain and decide to leave no guard on the aeroplane. They find a fault in the rock, “a narrow, evil-looking gorge that seemed to lead into the heart of the mountains” and they follow that. Soon vegetation disappears and only moss and lichen remain. They come across patches of slime. “Looks like the sort of stuff snails and slugs leave behind,” ventured Ginger. Then they find a human skeleton, then three more. Biggles finds a silver cigarette case engraved “To Grant, with love from Vera. Christmas 1901”. Dickpa says it must be Sir Grant Verdon, the celebrated Asiatic explorer. He disappeared in western China, with two companions around 1902 or 1903. As they press on, they tire considerably. The Professor says “I’m fagged out; it must be the altitude”. Biggles puts his gun down and gets a violent electric shock as the barrel touches a boulder. He realises the place is electrified – but he can’t move! Algy, Malty and Dickpa all feel the same. Only Ginger seems unaffected. Algy sees shadows and Ginger opens fire at one with his gun. The body of a man appears on the ground. “Say! it’s a chink,” he whispered. “He’s yellow – and naked. I think I’ve killed him”. Biggles sees that Ginger is wearing rubber shoes. He tells Ginger to run back and get the rubber water-proof sheets from the tent. “If you fail, we’re sunk”. Biggles thinks it will take Ginger between twenty and twenty-five minutes to get back. A movement from the black mouth of a cave ahead attracts their attention. “From it something appeared to be flowing, a dull white stream above which hung a pale blue mist. The movement was not regular, but undulating, like a shallow stream of milk flowing over a bed of large stones. “It’s – centipedes,” cried Algy, in a strangled voice, suddenly understanding. “Two minutes later the leading ranks of the silver stream of death reached the dead Chinaman, and became a living whirlpool. Another two minutes and the serried ranks reformed and came on again. But of the Chinaman there was nothing left except a gaunt skeleton over which the noisome reptiles continued to pour”. They are not more than ten yards away when Ginger returns. He spreads out the rubber sheets and drags first Biggles and Algy, then Dickpa and Malty onto them. “The effect was instantaneous. It was as if an electric current had been turned off, leaving only a slight stiffness”. They tie bits of rubber sheet around their feet and set off down the gorge at a stumbling run.