BIGGLES FLIES
WEST
By Captain W.
E. Johns
VII. THE HURRICANE (Pages 110 - 124)
“The new aircraft was a pure
flying-boat; that is to say, it was not fitted with a land undercarriage. It was larger than their own machine, having
accommodation for eight passengers, but being designed for commercial work, the
pilot’s compartment was separated from the cabin by a bulk-head, although
communication could be established by means of a small doorway, the door itself
having a glass panel in it through which passengers could, if they wished, see
into the cockpit”. The plan is to put
the aircraft down at the first decent anchorage they see and have a council of
war. If they see their aircraft on the
water near an island, they can assume it’s the one they are looking for. Algy asks Biggles if they are going to tackle
them. Biggles says without weapons they
are in no case to tackle anybody. If
their Pan-American flying boat is seen, there is no reason for the villains to
assume it is them. Biggles is hoping
there is food on board “because if I don’t soon have something to eat I shall pass out”.
In the cabin, there is food.
Biggles goes to give the cursed doubloon back to Dick and as he does so
the aircraft encounters a colossal up-current and then drops like a stone for
two hundred feet. Biggles asks Algy, who
is flying the plane, what caused that but Algy has no explanation. Biggles says “It just struck me that Dick’s
doubloon seems to be a hoodoo”. “Every
time the confounded thing comes to light something seems to happen”. Biggles then lists all the unfortunate things
that have happened to people who have had contact with the doubloon. “No less than four men, to our certain
knowledge, who have touched the coin have all died sudden deaths. I’m not superstitious, but there is no
denying that there have been cases where a sort of evil luck, of fate, has
clung to certain object, and this confounded coin seems to be one of them. Frankly, I don’t mind telling you that I
shouldn’t shed any tears if we lost it.
For two pins I’d make Dick throw the thing overboard”. Biggles returns to the others and sends
Ginger to relieve Algy, so he too can have some food. Ginger returns almost immediately to call
“Land-ho!” but also adds that there appears to be a storm approaching. Biggles takes over the flying while Algy eats
and he sees some twenty miles away a large crescent-shaped island. But there is also a dark, indigo ridge that
is rising with incredible speed above the horizon. Biggles knows they are in the hurricane
belt. Biggles decides to race to the
island in the hope of finding a sheltered anchorage to ride out the storm as
they will use up all their petrol if they try to get away from it or round
it. The ominous mass of the hurricane
sweeps towards them. Algy says “I never
saw anything quite like that in my life.
Looks terrifying, doesn’t it?”
Biggles guesses it is travelling at a hundred miles an hour. “We shall go up in the air like a feather if
it hits us. Tell the boys to stow
everything and lie on the floor”. Algy screams a warning “Look out!” but they
are hit by a great white albatross that takes out their port side
propeller. Biggles wipes a splatter of
blood from his face. “A nasty red mess
of blood and feathers jammed against the splintered windscreen told its own
story”. By now, the sun had disappeared
and the black curtain was almost overhead. The island is now not more than two
miles away. The jungle with which it was
covered was writhing until the whole island seemed to shake like a jelly. The hurricane strikes and "the
flying-boat rocketed like a wounded pheasant, and half turned over". (Biggles fought it back to even keel, and
then put the nose down in a dive that was not far short of vertical - is the
frontispiece illustration taken from a line on page 120). The plane starts to go down and they lose
their remaining engine. "Get ready
to swim!” yells Biggles. “I’m going to
try to reach those rocks over there, but I don’t think we shall quite manage
it. It will have to be every one for
himself when she strikes. Tell the boys
to get their clothes off and jump for it if we get close enough". “But what about the machine?” shouted Algy
aghast. “Let it go hang. If we can save our lives
we shall be lucky,” answered Biggles desperately. As the machine is about to hit the water,
Biggles tells Dick to slide down the wing as the port wing is overhanging rocks
but when he tries to do so, Dick find himself disappearing into the water where
he struggles for his life as he tries to reach the beach. Swamped in the water and dragged this way and
that, “Dick knew he was drowning” but by chance he is cast upon the beach and
desperately tries to grab hold before being dragged away by a huge wave. “Down – down – down he plunged, toward a
world of silence, leaving the thunder far behind. The earth leapt upwards. As he struck it, it seemed to explode in a
great blaze of crimson flame”.