BIGGLES IN THE GOBI

by Captain W. E. Johns

VIII. NO REST FOR ALGY (Pages 87 – 95)

“At the oasis Algy wore through a restless night. He had too much on his mind for easy sleep. Naturally he was more than a little worried on Ginger’s account”. Algy worries about the possibility of an attack on the oasis before Biggles returns. He gets up and dresses and goes to the cave entrance to better hear Ginger return. He sees movement in the darkness and makes out a Chinese soldier. Then he sees more soldiers moving towards the guest-house. Algy goes to wake Ritzen and tells him to move everyone back into the secret parts of the caves. Algy hopes the Chinese are looking for the Kirghiz and will go when they discover they are not there. Ritzen asks “What about Ginger?” “Strange to relate, in the shock of the discovering the troops Algy had momentarily forgotten Ginger”. He asks Ritzen to wake Ming and Feng and see if Ming knows a way into the desert without going near the guest-house. He will know the direction from which the Kirghiz will return and can go and intercept them. Algy suggests they could hide in the crypt under the tower in the desert until the troops leave. It will be fatal for Ginger to try to get back to the caves. “The troops must have horses somewhere too. If the beasts see or wind each other they’re likely to whinny”. Algy returns to the cave entrance where the coming of dawn has now improved the light. He can see at least a dozen soldiers and an officer, Ma Chang. Ma Chang draws his sword and blows a whistle and the guest-house is stormed and found to be empty. “Had his own peril not been so great he could have laughed, for the mortification and amazement on the men’s faces when they came out of the building, which they soon did, was the funniest thing he had seen for some time”. The troops throw down their carbines and light cigarettes. Two more soldiers arrive with pack-horses and unload boxes with Chinese script on them. Algy gets Ritzen to study the boxes and he informs Algy the boxes contain dynamite and detonators. “I imagine they’re going to blow up the guest-house to prevent it from being used by the Kirghiz or anybody else,” Ritzen adds. Algy is worried that any explosion might collapse the caves. “I know how orientals behave if they get their hands on explosives. They blow up everything within reach. They adore fireworks – anything that will make a bang. They’re quite likely to blow themselves up, but that wouldn’t help us”. Algy tells Ritzen to take everybody through the caves to the end of the cliff and take as much food as they can and some water. They can then decide whether to wait there or go on to the ruin in the desert. “Down in the oasis the work was proceeding in the usual Eastern disorderly manner”. Boxes are unpacked and drums of fuse wire uncoiled. Men are still smoking. Dynamite is carried to the guest-house. Algy notes the quantity of explosives are substantial and he sees Ma Chang stare up at the caves as he gives his orders. “From this Algy could only think that the caves were to be blown up, too. Apart from what this would mean to him, personally, it shocked him to think that these young fools – for most of the soldiers were youngish men – were ready so casually to destroy the immense labour of their ancestors. It was an indication of how far insidious propaganda had smothered their religious principles”. The soldiers then take a break and retire to the shade of the poplars and sit and eat.