BIGGLES GETS
HIS MEN
by Captain W.
E. Johns
XIII. BIGGLES PLAYS FOR TIME (Pages 153 -
166)
Von Stalhein has been unperturbed by
Biggles entrance. "You know,
Bigglesworth, you'll do this sort of thing once too often" he says. Petroffsky lets out
a howl of greeting and invites Biggles to have a drink. "You'd be well advised to sit still and
keep quite" Biggles tells him. Biggles and von Stalhein have a barbed
conversation for a while. Von Stalhein
says he is only here for the money. Biggles
persuades Petroffsky to go home and so he
leaves. Shortly after they hear shots
fired in the camp. Suddenly a European
man rushes into the room, talking in German and saying "The prisoners have
escaped! The hut is empty. Luntz is shot -
dying". Then the man sees
Biggles. Biggles holds him at gunpoint
then makes his escape, looking both von Stalhein and the new arrival in the
room. Outside, things are fairly chaotic
with Korean prisoners running about "like frightened sheep". This would make recognition of Ginger, who
was also dressed like a Korean, difficult, except for at close quarters. Biggles goes to the prison hut to confirm
that the prisoners have got away. He is
surprised to see that the bars are still in place. They must have gone out the front door. He runs to the end of the workshop where he
sees a group of Mongolians and a group of Europeans. He turns towards the trees and then a huge
explosion takes place. Stunned by the
blast, Biggles recovers slowly and finds the workshop gone and the prison hut
flattened. Biggles has also lost his
pistol. Ming, the Mongolian leader
appears on the scene and Biggles runs for it.
He trips and fall and rough hands are laid on him. "For a moment or two he was afraid that
he was going to be severely manhandled, for the men were in an ugly mood; and
not having a weapon of any sort there was little he could do to prevent
it". Von Stalhein comes on the
scene and seeing Biggles says "This is a pleasure". "If it is", replied Biggles evenly,
"it's all yours".