BIGGLES IN THE JUNGLE
Book First Published in May 1942 - 191 pages
I believe this Biggles book was never serialised elsewhere. If anybody knows differently then please E-MAIL ME
The first edition dust jacket showing
the original price of 5 shillings. The
true first edition has a “thin” inner front flap where the price is shown!
This second edition dust jacket from 1944
appears identical – but was too big for the much thinner book. You will see the crease showing where the
picture on the spine was too wide for the actual spine of the book.
Note the size of the inner front
flap. Much bigger than the first
edition. There should be no need to hyphenate
some of the words, but they were using the first edition type setting on the
second edition jacket!
This is another second edition dust
jacket from 1944 – Note how “Sinister Service” has been removed from the list
of Biggles books shown on the earlier dust jackets – because it was not a
Biggles book!
CHAPTERS
Click on any chapter for a summary of the events in that chapter or
see the general story summary below
I – BIGGLES MEETS AN OLD FRIEND
III – DUSKY TELLS HIS STORY AND GINGERS LEARNS A
LESSON
VII – IN THE CLAWS OF THE TIGER
Biggles,
Algy and Ginger are flying an amphibian called the Wanderer to Central
America to examine the possibilities of an air service between British
possessions on the mainland and the West Indies. Stopping at Belize, Biggles
looks up an old friend called Carruthers who is acting Governor there.
Carruthers tells Biggles of a problem he is having with the so called 'King of
the Forest', who is interfering with supplies of chicle (the sap of a tree used
as a basis for making chewing gum) - the colony's most important export.
Biggles offers to use his aircraft to help out, as Belize has no air force.
Starting by exploring the so called 'unknown river', Biggles comes across a
wounded native chicle collector, they nickname 'Dusky'. Dusky had been shot
whilst escaping virtual slavery by a man called Cristoval Bogat.
Dusky has a story to tell. Bogat is the right-hand
man for the 'King of the Forest'. Carruthers and his assistant Marcel Chorro visit Biggles. Carruthers swears in our three heroes
as special constables in order to enable them to deal with the 'King of the
Forest'. After flying Carruthers and Chorro back,
Biggles finds his aircraft has been sabotaged. Bogat
and his associates attack Biggles' camp and our heroes are forced to fly off.
Ginger spots an old ruined city on a plateau in the mountains and Biggles lands
in order to explore. They discover a huge staircase carved in the side of the
mountain that leads down to the jungle. Dusky thinks this may lead to where he
was held captive as he recalls seeing steps carved into a mountainside. Biggles
and Ginger go down to explore and accidentally meet the 'King of the Forest' in
his own base. Captured, they are put into a cage divided into two, with a
Panther in the other half. The plan is to feed them to the panther. Algy, who
had been left with the aircraft, sets off on the long trek down the mountain
steps and is able to rescue Biggles and Ginger. Pursued up the steps, our
heroes get away in their aircraft but not before a bullet has holed their fuel
tank and forced them to land on the river. Here they face a number of perils
before they are able to obtain more fuel sent to them by Carruthers. A
storm-swollen river forces Biggles to take off without Algy, Ginger and Dusky.
Biggles flies back to Carruthers to report on progress so far. Whilst he is
away, Algy and Ginger are captured by natives and meet up with another captive,
an American called Eddie Rockwell. Eddie has come to Belize on a treasure hunt
but his business partners had betrayed him and left him to die in the forest. Bogat attacks the native village and captures the three
white men and takes them to the 'King of the Forest'. Biggles returns and Dusky
is able to tell him what has happened. Following on, Biggles finds himself
returning to the mountain plateau via the lengthy flight of steps. Algy, Ginger
and Eddie are being used, amongst others, as slave labour to dig for the
treasure. The two men who abandoned Eddie have now joined forces with the 'King
of the Forest'. Biggles, disguised as a native, joins Algy and Ginger and later
helps them shoot their way out. Ginger however, has discovered a secret chamber
whilst digging. After the initial escape, our heroes hide in an abandoned house
on the plateau but later under the cover of darkness, they move to hide in
Ginger's hidden chamber. Biggles goes to scout around and whilst he is away,
the house where they were hiding is blown up. Unbeknown to Biggles, this has
the result of trapping Algy, Ginger and Eddie. Biggles returns to find Dusky
who he had previously left when he joined the slave labour party. Returning
down the steps, Biggles captures Bogat and Chorro who has been betraying our heroes. During an attack
by native Indians, both Bogat and Chorro
are killed. Returning to the aircraft, Biggles and Dusky fly back to Carruthers
and return with a small army in order to take the King's base. Meanwhile, Algy,
Ginger and Eddie have found a secret passage that has lead them to the
treasure. Further exploration helps them find a way out. Meeting up with
Biggles and his reinforcements, the King of the Forest is captured and taken
back to civilisation to be tried.
Click here to see the story illustrations from the original HARDBACK first edition of this book
Biggles in the Jungle
Publication Details - published by Oxford University Press
The spine and cover illustrations from the original Oxford first
edition
Frontispiece
Click on the above to see it in more detail
The “Hampton Library” reprint – click on the above picture to
find out more details