BIGGLES IN BORNEO

By Captain W. E. Johns

XIV. MORE SHOCKS (Page 146 - 157)

The weather starts to improve. A Japanese Kawinishi reconnaissance plane flies up the river presumably looking for barges. Ginger dresses in a Japanese tunic and cap and waves in down in the hope of taking the aviation fuel in it, in preference to the fuel in the barge. The plane lands and the observer gets out. Biggles knocks him into the water and then claps a revolver to the pilot's head. The fuel is syphoned into cans and transferred into their Cayman aircraft. Abandoning the Japanese prisoners afloat in their plane, the remaining contents of the barge are burnt and at midnight Biggles, Algy, Ginger, Fee Wong and Ah Wong all take off to return to the Lucky Strike base. However, after take off Biggles nearly collapses and has to replaced as pilot. "Looks to me as if he's got a sharp attack of fever" says Algy. After a lengthy flight back to Borneo, they find Lucky Strike smoking like a volcano and being bombed. Biggles groaned "Trust things to come unstuck the moment I turn my back". For 20 minutes they have to wait whilst the raid end, then lack of petrol forces them to crash land on the bombed Lucky Strike runway. "What you might call a spectacular homecoming" said Biggles weakly.