THE RESCUE FLIGHT

by Captain W. E. Johns

VII. NECK OR NOTHING (Pages 86 – 99)

As there is no path, they follow the brook. They make their way to the hut, that Forty had referred to in his letter. They are alarmed to hear and then see a gamekeeper with half a dozen German soldiers and a hound, heading towards the hut. Biggles tells Thirty he ought to be dancing for joy. It means that his brother must still be alive and the party must be looking for him. Then another person appears, “he wore no coat, his shirt and breeches were in rags. A tangle of long unkempt hair covered his head, and merged into a scrubby growth of beard on his cheeks and chin”. This man is oblivious to the Germans’ presence. The unkempt man goes into the hut, only to be captured by the soldiers and their officer. When they come out of the hut, they find Biggles, Algy and Thirty waiting for them. Biggles tells the Germans (in German) to put their hands up. (The Germans stood still, in the position in which the shock of surprise had found them - is the illustration on page 95). The officer goes for his gun so Biggles shoots him. “His legs seemed to fold up under him and he crashed to the ground like a wet overcoat falling from a peg”. Another German soldier runs away and actually manages to make good his escape. Biggles takes the guns off the remaining soldiers and then lets them go. Biggles asks the bearded man in the tattered clothes if he is Fortymore and he says he is. “Come on, then. We’ll leave the handshakes until afterwards if you don’t mind. Let’s get out of this”. They race off back to their aircraft, but come under fire from the first German who got away before he could be disarmed. The planes are all started up and Rip lies flat on the floor of his cockpit so that Forty can operate the aircraft’s gun if need be. As Thirty takes off, he thinks to himself “An hour and we’ll be safe!”