BIGGLES FLIES WEST

By Captain W. E. Johns

XV11. EXPLANATIONS (Pages 248 - 255)

It is explained to Biggles that the destroyer was attracted by the noise and smoke of the battle. As Dick approaches the destroyer, he sees his father, alive and well. Biggles asks the Captain for three things. Firstly, water, to wash and drink, secondly, to send men to secure his aircraft in the lagoon and thirdly, to send men to collect the treasure from the pirate fort. “You see,” he explained, “a few of the enemy have survived the engagement, and while I do not think it is probably, there is just a chance that they may make a final raid”. “While they were washing, Dick exchanged rapid explanations with his father who it appeared, had survived the knife wound, but only after a long painful illness. As soon as he was convalescent, he had written a second letter to Dick, but by that time Dick was already on his way to the island, so he did not receive it”. Dick’s father had seen an Admiral at Kingston, Jamaica who found his story so intriguing that he had sent the destroyer out to locate the island. “Dick’s father was, of course, just as astonished to see Dick as Dick was to see him”. An hour later, after a square meal, Biggles sits down and tells the Captain the whole story. The treasure will be regarded as 'treasure trove' - that is, Crown property, until there is a Court of Inquiry. Biggles had already got a document from the Treasury with the concurrence of the Admiralty, stating that they get fifty per cent of anything they find. The Captain tells Biggles his men found a dead Englishman on the boat. His name was Harvey. Biggles and our heroes spend the rest of the day showing the naval officers the fort and the old galleon. Dick got permission to retain Dakeyne's black pirate flag. Biggles flies to Kingston where the official inquiry is to be held. In due course the treasure raises two hundred thousand pounds of which one half went to the Crown. “The remainder was divided between the adventurers in the proportions agreed upon”. Dick enters the Merchant Navy as an apprentice, where he was known as "Doubloon Dick" and in his cabin hangs the sinister banner of Louis Dakeyne, Louis Le Grande, The Exterminator.