BIGGLES GETS HIS MEN

A Further Adventure of Sergeant Bigglesworth, of the Special Air Service, C.I.D.

by Captain W. E. Johns

First printed 1950

For the first time the book carries the disclaimer "The characters in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any living person".

CONTENTS – Page 7

I. RAYMOND STATES THE CASE (Pages 9 - 22)

Biggles is introduced as Sergeant Bigglesworth, one time Squadron-Leader Bigglesworth, D.S.O., R.A.F., better known as "Biggles", in this book. Biggles, Algy, Bertie and Ginger are sitting around killing time waiting to go to a meeting with Air-Commodore Raymond. Raymond has had something on his mind for a week and at a meeting with Lord Rutterton of the foreign office, Lucas Wetherton of the Diplomatic Service, Colonel George Grimster of the Canadian Army and Captain Roderick Mayne, Raymond explains what it is to our heroes. In March, a scientist in the service of the Government, called Professor Felix Lampeter, an expert on atomic research, disappeared. In April, Doctor Otto Kern, an Austrian refugee who specialised in the control of rocket missiles also disappeared. In May, Squadron-Leader Kerr-Watson, a supersonic aircraft designer also disappeared. On warning our friends across the Atlantic, it was learned that a Canadian leading light in anti-atomic warfare, General John Gorton has also disappeared. Scotland Yard investigated and a young sergeant called Tom Gale, under an assumed name, by carefully prepared press and radio reports, was built up as a leading atomic expert, to see if he would also be kidnapped. The name Gale adopted was Vernon Victor Vale and his code sign would be three Vees. If he was kidnapped, the plan was for him to leave his mark - the three Vees - somewhere. Gale, or Vale as he now was disappeared five months ago. A fortnight ago, at the British Embassy at Nanking in China, a native arrived with a message tattooed on his shaved head. This man was unable to speak, having had his tongue cut out and was unable to write. The message was a dollar signed followed by the number one thousand, below that was a rudimentary map and the sign of the three Vees. The $1000 represented the sum the man had been promised for his services. Captain Mayne then takes up the narrative as he is an expert on Chinese affairs. "I saw this Chinese messenger and recognised him as an Orochon - that is, a member of a tribe that inhabits the practically unexplored territory in the region of the Manchurian and eastern Siberian frontiers. Mayne has been to the region and recognised in the map a curiously shaped lake. By answering questions with indications of yes or no, the story from this Orochon was that he was held at a slave at a camp where several white men were being held. Air Commodore Raymond says "It boils down to this. We've got to get these fellows out. What do you think of it?" "What you really mean is will I go to look for them" says Biggles. Needing someone who speaks Chinese, Lord Rutterton asks Mayne to go with Biggles and his men and he is willing to do so. Lord Rutterton explains that if they are captured, the British Government mustn't be bought into it. Biggles asks to speak to Mayne in his office.