BIGGLES
FLIES SOUTH
by Captain W.
E. Johns
XVI. BIGGLES
WINS THROUGH (Pages
207 – 215)
The old hag sees Biggles and she
rallies the warriors who remain unburnt.
The crocodile is still burning and near death. Biggles runs to the cave entrance but
burdened by the three heavy cans of petrol, he is on the verge of being
overtaken by his pursuers. Unscrewing a petrol can, Biggles hurls it down the
path behind him and throws a lighted match after it. The can explodes shooting lines of fire in
all directions like a bursting rocket.
Biggles traverses the chamber of tombs using his last remaining matches
and pages from his note book to light the way.
Biggles waits until dawn before exiting the cave as he remembers the
scorpions and wants to avoid them. The
two petrol cans Biggles has with him will give him twenty minutes in the air
but that will be enough time to fly to the oasis. As he exits the cave, Biggles narrowly misses
being crushed by a boulder pushed down from above by the old woman, who must
have been waiting for him to emerge.
Biggles reaches the aircraft and drinks tepid water and munches a few
biscuits. He then pours the petrol in
the gravity tank. He removes the worst
of the dust from the air intakes of the engines and is able to start the
plane. He loads a signal pistol and
places it on the seat beside him. He
then goes down the wadi and clears
boulders large and small. Opening up the
throttle of the aircraft he races down the valley to take off.