BIGGLES IN THE JUNGLE

by Captain W. E. Johns

XVI. CARRUTHERS TAKES A HAND (Pages 170 - 179)

Hiding from the Indians up in the trees, Biggles says to Dusky that he is glad they chose Bogat for a target and not him. “Dey know Bogat. Dey want him for a long time. Dey take you for an Indian” says Dusky. “Biggles thought that this was probably the correct explanation. Not being a hypocrite, he made no pretence of being sorry for the brutal Bogat, or the treacherous Chorro, who had got no more than their deserts”. Biggles and Dusky travel through the carpet in the trees and make it back to the aircraft, then climb down. Dusky says the Indians are too afraid to go near the aircraft. “Dey tink, maybe, it’s a new god” says Dusky. Biggles decides to fly down to see Carruthers and he takes Dusky with him. When he gets there, Biggles says to Carruthers “I rarely ask for assistance, but this seems to be a case where a little help would be worth a deal of sympathy”. Biggles wants men at the top and bottom of the jungle stairs to help trap the Tiger. Carruthers says he will come with ten or a dozen native police, and he can get a machine-gun. Biggles refuels, has a bath, and then flies his heavily loaded aircraft back to their previous landing-pace, the bend where Bogat and Chorro had met their deaths. “Here four men were disembarked – Dusky, a sergeant, and two policemen. In addition to their small arms, they carried a Vickers machine-gun”. They were to proceed to the foot of the stairway and take up a position covering it. Anyone attempting to come down was to be arrested. Biggles then takes off and flies to the top of the plateau. Biggles says to Carruthers “Tell your fellows to be ready to bundle out smartly as soon as the machine stops. We’re likely to come under fire right away, so get the machine-gun in action as quickly as possible. I don’t think the Tiger will face it”. The Tiger leads about a dozen of his men in a charge on the aircraft when it lands but he and his men soon flee when the machine-gun starts its devastating chatter. “Now things took a surprising turn, a turn for which Biggles thought he should have been prepared, but as a matter of fact the possibility had not occurred to him”. The labourers, who were really nothing less than slaves, realised that deliverance was at hand and rose up and attacked their masters with picks and shovels. The survivors of this, the Tiger amongst them, bolted for the steps. Biggles then saw a fearful sight. “Five or six brawny natives, fleeter of foot than the rest”, overtake the two white men, Warren and Schmitt and catching them, throw them to their deaths into the void by the steps. Biggles dashes to the chamber where his friends are, and for the first time sees the effects of the explosion and realises that they have been trapped. Getting some ex-labourers to help, they clear the masonry and Biggles opens the slab. He calls out to his friends, but there is no reply. Carruthers appears and Biggles tells him “They’ve gone”.