BIGGLES IN THE BLUE

by Captain W. E. Johns

II. RUMKEG HAVEN (Pages 28 – 46)

A week later, Ginger and Biggles are watching the band of the Royal West India Regiment in Kingston, Jamaica. “Algy and Bertie were not there. They had remained in charge of the aircraft selected for the operation, a twin-engined Otter amphibian (This was no doubt a fictional aeroplane when the book was written in 1953, but I see in 1965 there was a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter that was produced until 1988), that had found a mooring in Columbus Bay, where an unobtrusive hotel was available for accommodation”. Biggles and Ginger have now driven to see the Chief of Police to see if there are any developments in the case. Von Stalhein, it seemed was spending most of his time, it was said, bathing or sitting about in the gardens near the headland. “They learned that a daily caretaker, a coloured man, was still on duty at Hagen’s house, Rumkeg Haven. He had the keys. Nothing had been moved. The yacht Vega was still lying in the harbour”. Biggles collects the keys for Hagen’s safe as he and Ginger propose to make a thorough search of Hagen’s property. Biggles is convinced the sketch is a tracing that had been made from a map, a chart, a photograph, or an original drawing that should be somewhere in the house. Firstly, they go to confirm that von Stalhein is where they are being told he is. They wonder why he is doing nothing; it is not like him at all. Ginger thinks he might be waiting for the caretaker to be withdrawn so he can buy or rent the house. They see von Stalhein by the pool, wearing a bath-robe, with his long cigarette holder and monocle. They then drive to Hagen’s house, where they admire the incredible view (‘Rumkeg Haven’ is the colour frontispiece). They find the front door ajar and the “coloured caretaker” slumped in an armchair apparently asleep. “From a cigarette that had fallen from his drooping fingers to the carpet, a spiral of blue smoke still coiled upwards. (“A spiral of blue smoke still coiled upwards” is the illustration between pages 18 and 19. This illustration shows Biggles bending over the man examining him, but rather bizarrely, Biggles is wearing his leather flying cap with googles pushed up. This attire seems most unlikely in the hot Jamaican sun and is not described in the text). Biggles puts a finger to his lips for silence. Biggles opens the door into the study and a man spins round. Both men are shocked! It’s Erich von Stalhein! “I’m sorry to see you’ve sunk as low as house-breaking, von Stalhein” says Biggles. “You jump to conclusions,” answered von Stalhein, who claims to be there on legitimate business, with his wine samples. “Do you usually start by doping the servants of your prospective customers?” asks Biggles. “It is true that in the course of conversation I gave the man in the hall a cigarette. But how was I to know that he suffered from a weak head? He should not have accepted it” is the reply. After some verbal jousting, von Stalhein warns Biggles that if he decides to live there, there are snakes in the garden. Biggles smiled. “Snakes don’t worry me. I can deal with them. After all, I’ve had a lot of experience – as you know”. “I believe it is a fact that even the best snake-charmers usually die of snake bite at the finish,” said von Stalhein softly, and he then leaves. Biggles does not try to stop him. Biggles realises that von Stalhein will now know that British Intelligence are aware of who Hagen was. He says that von Stalhein could only have been in the room for a minute or two and had he found anything, he wouldn’t be hanging about. Ginger asks how von Stalhein got there so quickly. The only answer, says Biggles, is the man at the pool was not von Stalhein, but a decoy planted, as he suspected he was being watched. Biggles suggests they go back to the pool before von Stalhein can contact the man there. The caretaker wakes up and Biggles informs him they are police officers and tells him that he was asleep. “Me? Sleep suh!” The black looked shocked. “No suh”. “Never mind. Give me the keys and run along” says Biggles. They drive back to the bathing-pool and find von Stalhein’s double still there, reading a newspaper. They move closer and see the resemblance was not so pronounced as they had thought. The monocle and long cigarette-holder has been largely responsible for the deception. Ginger’s eyes meet with the man’s and a chill runs down Ginger’s spine. Biggles tries to find out the name of the man from a waiter, but he doesn’t know him. The waiter says “I don’t him from Adam. Foreigner, by the way he talks. He’s got some queer pals, I know that much. There’s one of them coming now”. The newcomer “was coloured; not quite the ebony black of a full-blooded negro, but the deep chocolate brown of a mixed breed, mostly negro. There was nothing remarkable about that. It was his get-up that fascinated Ginger – beautifully pressed lilac trousers tapered almost to a point at the ankles, and a square-shouldered, wasp-waisted jacket with long lapels that ended in a single large button. A broad-rimmed hat, snapped down in front, covered his head. A flaunting red tie decorated with dice, and a large gold pin, completed an outfit that would have been ridiculous had not the man, who was tall and slim, walked with the smooth grace of a panther”. The waiter says he is Napoleon Morgan, “Nappy Morgan, they call him”. “One of the high-lights of the Communist Party. Always stirring up trouble”. The waiter says he was a big noise in the “Saga Boys”, a gang of “Spivs, smart guys and razor-slashers, mostly”. “This particular specimen lives in the Dunghill,” the slums down by the railway yard. Biggles thinks the von Stalhein lookalike “is a Slav from Eastern Europe, judging from his flat face and high cheekbones”. About a quarter of an hour later, von Stalhein arrives and goes to the man in the bath gown, says something to him, and walks on. The man gets up and goes. Biggles says to Ginger “It’s lunch-time. Let’s go somewhere and tear a chop. Then we’ll go back to Rumkeg Haven and see what there is to see there”.