BIGGLES
– AIR COMMODORE
by Captain W.
E. Johns
VIII. SHADOWS
ON THE SHORE (Pages
112 – 129)
The following morning Biggles discusses
his plans as he “standing on the hull, sponged himself down briskly from a
bucket of cold water”. He wants to find
the Seafret and get Sullivan to send a burying
party ashore to deal with Tom and his mechanic.
He also wants to examine the crashed enemy plane as it may furnish them
with important information, such as the nationality of the people they are up
against. Biggles notes there isn’t much
room, but twice he taxies the full length of the lagoon they are on to make
sure there are no partly submerged obstructions in the way. Then, facing the longest possible run, he
takes off. Swinging round to the open
sea, they see the Seafret
and Biggles returns to the little bay they had used the previous day. The Seafret joins them and drops anchor. A boat is sent to get the three airmen. Sullivan says they got the call signal and
their position but haven’t heard a word since.
Biggles explains what happened to them.
“It looks as if things are getting warm,” muttered Sullivan when he had
finished. “Warmish,” agreed Biggles,
“but they’ll be warmer still presently, I fancy”. Biggles asks Sullivan to send a burial party
ashore to deal with the dead men and asks for a couple of men with cutlasses or
billhooks to help him hack his way to the crash site of enemy plane. Algy is to go with the burial party,
consisting of a dozen bluejackets with picks and shovels; Ginger is left in
charge of the Nemesis. Lovell, the Navigating Officer, tells Ginger
the barometer’s falling and it is likely to be windy. He sends a sailor called Gilmore to help
Ginger get their plane ashore and peg her down.
When the sailor’s work is done, Gilmore is pleased to get a chance to
stroll on dry land. Algy’s party returns
and Ginger tells Algy why he has put the Nemesis
on the beach. “I think you’re right,”
Algy opined. Ginger returns to the cabin
of the plane to await the return of Biggles and sees “an evil yellow face,
flat, wizened, surmounted by a tightly fitting skull-cap” looking out from the
jungle. Peeping out of the cockpit,
Ginger sees Gilmore, apparently asleep under the wing. Ginger calls him but he doesn’t respond. Peeping again, Ginger sees the face again and
hears the soft phut
as if a light blow had fallen on the fuselage just below him. Drawing his automatic, Ginger sees a bush
quiver and “blazed at it recklessly, emptying his weapon except for a single
round which he saved for emergency”.
Everything comes to life. A boat
is put out from the ship and races towards him.
Biggles, followed by his two men arrives back and comes out of the
jungle and as Biggles comes towards the Nemesis. Ginger warns him. “Be careful,” he shouted, almost
hysterically. “Watch out – they’re in
there”. “Who’s in there? What’s in there?” asks Biggles. “N****rs! Savages! Something – I don’t know,” answered
Ginger incoherently. (This
is the fifth Biggles book to feature the use of the very offensive “N” word by
W. E. Johns. The word appears just once
in this book but the offensive word “W*gs” appears in
Chapter XIII. Of course, in its day, the
word was in regular use and not considered offensive at all, otherwise it would
not have appeared in a children’s book, where even mild expletives are watered
down. The word remained in all Oxford
editions of this book and also in the 1963 Armada paperback version (which is
surprising as the four uses of the word had been removed from the 1962 Armada paperback
version of “Biggles in Africa”). In the
1994 Red Fox edition, where “Biggles – Air Commodore” is retitled “Biggles
and the Secret Mission” the word is completely omitted and Ginger just says
“Savages! Something – I don’t know”.)
Algy
and several sailors arrive from the ship.
Ginger tells Biggles he has seen faces in the bushes. Biggles asks him if he has been dreaming, but
on seeing Gilmore’s body they realise the dreadful truth. “Ginger took one look at the bared teeth and
staring eyes, and then covered his face with his hands. Biggles shock him roughly. “How did it happen” he snapped. A Chief Petty Officer with Biggles, who had
seen much service in the Far East, says “It looks like Malay work to me,
sir”. “Gilmore was killed by a blow-pipe
– look at this”. He held up a tiny
pointed dart, discoloured at the tip.
“One scratch of that and you’re a goner inside ten minutes,” he
declared. “Where did you find that?”
asked Biggles. “Stuck in the nose of
your aeroplane” is the reply. Biggles
takes the Nemesis back onto the sea
and they all go aboard the ship for a council of war.