BIGGLES IN THE
JUNGLE
by Captain W.
E. Johns
VIII. ALGY
EXPLORES (Pages
80 - 89)
An anxious Algy decides to set off in
moonlight down the perilous steps to find Biggles and Ginger. Dusky goes with him (appearing to ignore
the fact that he was shot through the thigh only days before?). Dusky spots Biggles' note to Algy in the
first light of the false dawn. They go
on to the valley, making their way down the rocks. Standing and listening just before dawn, the pair
can hear an animal roaring and Dusky goes off to explore. He comes back for Algy and leads him to where
Biggles and Ginger are in the cage. Algy
sees that the cage is divided into two compartments. Biggles and Ginger in one and Juanita - a
black panther – in the other. Algy goes
to shoot the panther, but Biggles stops him saying the shot will bring a
crowd. Algy can only find one way of
getting them out, and that is by opening the panther cage and then raising the
dividing bars. He concludes he better
“shoot the brute” and Biggles agrees.
Before he can do this, “a dozen men, mostly native, but with some white
men among them, were racing towards the spot.
One fired a revolver as he ran.
Algy gets on the roof of the cage and lets the panther out. It runs towards the oncoming men, scattering
them. Algy then raises the partition to
let Biggles and Ginger out. Biggles
tells them all to make for the stairway.
The King of the Forest shoots Juanita.
Our heroes return to the perilous stairwell at the back of the village. They ascend, with Biggles bringing up the
rear, chased by the King's men, specifically headed by five local Indians,
forging ahead. After an hour in intense
heat, Biggles’s party have to rest.
Biggles fires at the Indians behind him.
“That’ll give them something to think about, anyway,” observed Biggles
giving the order to march. It takes them
until midday to reach the top, but, strangely, the Indians don’t appear to be
behind them now. At the top of the
steps, they come under fire and Biggles realises the Indians have got to the
top by another route. Biggles decides
they need to dash for the aircraft and take off. The Indians begin firing at the aircraft and
the fuel tank of the aircraft is holed and petrol pours out. Biggles plugs it as best he can with his
handkerchief and takes off rapidly as the fuel runs out. The plane just has enough fuel to take off
from the plateau, and they intend to glide to the river on empty, if only they
can make it.