BIGGLES IN THE BLUE

by Captain W. E. Johns

VIII. SUCCESS OR FAILURE? (Pages 116 – 126)

Ginger sets off again “as fast as was compatible with caution”. If Morgan was there, then Boris Zorotov and von Stalhein would probably be there as well and they may be up ahead. Another twenty minutes of travelling brings Ginger to the small lagoon that was his destination. Beyond is the large lagoon, stretching away to distant horizons. “Some distance to the left was the scarlet crescent that he had seen from the air – the flamingo colony. It comprised many hundreds of birds, a wonderful sight”. The bump marked on Hagen’s map turns out to be a small coral and thatch hut, in the last stages of dilapidation. “It seemed so little after his labour, merely four walls, a door, a window and a wind-torn roof of palm fronds. The floor was bare earth. In a corner, looking as if it might have been a bed, lay a flat heap of palmetto leaves”. Blown into a corner, Ginger finds a tiny screwed-up wisp of paper “in such a new condition that it could not have been there for very long”. It is the wrapping from a photographic film, giving instructions for use. “Who else could it have been but Hagen, who was known to have taken photos of the flamingos?” thought Ginger. Exploring with renewed interest, Ginger finds that under the bed of leaves, the earth is rough and soft, as if it had been turned over. Ginger tries to dig with his hands but he is prevented by the earth being mixed with shells and pieces of flinty coral. He realises he will need a tool and even then, it will take some time. A noise draws Ginger outside, every flamingo is screaming and there are a thousand wings beating. Ginger sees a distant figure, apparently collecting eggs. The weather is now taking a turn for the worse but Ginger waits to watch. The figure can now be seen to be a fat woman in a short skirt, or skirt drawn up to her knees, and she is leading a donkey. Ginger decides it is time to return to Biggles. He sets off but is soon caught in a rain storm. The sun is obliterated by clouds and an uncanny twilight dims the scene. Ginger then sees thousands of crabs taking advantage of the deluge to move towards the sea. Although Ginger is desperately anxious to get home, it seems to him to be the height of folly to attempt it now, bearing in mind the hazards he had faced on the journey there. The only protection from the weather would be the banyan tree and it would be dark by the time he got there. Reluctantly, Ginger returns to the hut. It would at least offer him shelter until the storm has passed and it seems like the common sense thing to do. “He tried to console himself with the thought that he was not the first man to be benighted”.