BIGGLES OF THE SPECIAL AIR POLICE

by Captain W. E. Johns

III. THE CASE OF THE LOST SOULS (Pages 55 – 76)

“A Gentleman to see you, sir. Says he’s come from the Yard”. “Flight-Sergeant Smyth, having said his piece, stepped back”. (This story is Flight-Sergeant Smyth’s last appearance in a Biggles book. After 1953 he was no longer featured). The man has a letter of introduction from Air Commodore Raymond which reads “This introduces Mr. John Stokes, of Downside Cottage, Penthrope, Sussex. He has a strange tale to tell. I’d like to you to hear it at first hand”. Biggles invites Mr. Stokes to sit down and tell him about it but Mr. Stokes admits “It all seems so daft I feel I’m making a fool of myself”. “Forget how you feel now,” suggested Biggles. “Go back to how you felt when you started off for Scotland Yard”. Mr. Stokes tells his story. He is a retired soldier on a pension and six months ago he bought a small poultry-farm, which he runs with his wife. He says there are ghosts where he lives and they take the form of voices up in the air, over his head. The sounds he has heard are things like a pig squealing, and a sneeze and a voice saying “Lie down!”. He obviously looked up above him at the time, but couldn’t see a thing. There was no moonlight, only the light from the stars. On one occasion, Mr. Stokes said that he had found his chicken coop had been dragged up a hill and dropped in the middle of a field. The times of the incidents have always been the same; between two and three in the morning, when he has been out ensuring the safety of his livestock. Biggles asks about the weather and he is told that on each occasion the weather was fine. Biggles asks Stokes if he can remember the dates of the incidents and he can. May 28^th, June 20^th and “last night”. Biggles tells Ginger to get the six-inch Ordnance Survey sheets of Sussex out and Mr. Stokes points out his cottage, on a south slope leading up to a line of trees marking an old disused road. Biggles says he will come down to investigate and he will do some mushrooming at the same time. It gives him an excuse to be seen out examining the land. Biggles sends Ginger to get the car while he has a word with the “Met. People at the Ministry” as he wants to know what the weather conditions were like on the nights in question. (The next part of the story is prefixed with a “II”). It was three o’clock “and a fine summer afternoon” when Biggles stopped the car inside the overgrown track that was once the original main road. Seeing where Stokes’ cottage is, down in the valley, Biggles starts scouring the grassland, walking parallel with the trees. He soon finds a rough scratch, or scar; in some places a single scratch, sometimes double. Something has dragged across the ground. At the trees there is a place where leaves and broken twigs are lying about. Biggles points out to Ginger how it is in a direct line with the torn-up turf. Walking on through a second line of trees and cresting a hill, they see a small country store, with a petrol-pump and a notice saying that a Mr. Lucius Landerville was licensed to sell tobacco, wines and spirits. The shop also sells eggs, honey and puppies. Some nearby kennels also offer a dog boarding service. Biggles asks the girl who serves them ice-cream what dogs they have for sale and they are introduced to Mr. Landerville. The dogs he supplies are mostly poodles. When the conversation ends, Biggles tells Ginger the man’s name rings a bell and he intends to look him up at the Royal Aero Club. Biggles remarks “It’s been a very pleasant afternoon and quite an interesting one, too”. (The next part of the story is prefixed with a “III”). A week after the excursion to the Sussex Downs, Biggles sends Flight-Sergeant Smyth to find Ginger, Algy and Bertie, “who were somewhere on the tarmac” to ask them to join him in the Ops Room. Biggles informs them they will not be going home that night, but would stand by until midnight because they were going “spook-hunting”. “For the first time in a week the weather conditions are precisely those that prevailed on the occasions when Mr. Stokes heard uncanny noises over his head”. Biggles hints that he knows what is going on when he says “he’ll drop right into our hands” and “it may need all four of us to hold him down”. The plan is to divide the haunted area into four sections, one for each of them and the first man to spot the ghost will blow his whistle: The others will then converge on the spot at the double. “In what form are you expecting this spectre to appear?” inquired Algy cynically. “As a large round monster carrying a basket,” replied Biggles seriously. “He may be armed with a large hook, so watch you don’t get an eye knocked out”. “Suppose you stop talking rot and give us the pukka gen,” said Ginger sarcastically. Biggles says he believes that something really did “put the wind up” Stokes. “Having been a soldier he isn’t the sort of fellow to be easily frightened. It’s all very well to discuss this sort of thing in broad daylight. Alone, on a dark night, one is apt to feel altogether different”. Bertie asks if the ghastly visitor is likely to be solid, or hollow? “Hollow,” answered Biggles, grinning. They go to the canteen to eat and later the Flight-Sergeant brings Biggles a signal slip. Biggles says the nocturnal rambler will be over the Sussex Downs at a quarter past two (in the morning). (The next part of the story is prefixed with a “IV”). By two o’clock, Ginger is alone waiting in the dark on the downs. The only light in view was on the skyline, at or near the roadside establishment belonging to Mr. Lucius Landerville. Ginger hears a loud bump followed by a harsh scraping. He sees a black cloud drift by and blows his whistle. A great basket “appeared from nowhere, as the saying is”. From it leapt a man who starts to run, but Ginger rugby tackles him to the ground. Biggles comes up with a torch. “All right, Landerville,” he said. “Fighting won’t help. The game’s up”. Biggles says they are the police. Landerville says “It’s a fair catch” and asks them to mind his dogs. In the balloon basket are two hampers, one contains a dog and the other a litter of puppies. “I happen to be very fond of dogs,” volunteered Landerville. “I doubt if many dog-owners in this country would agree with you,” answered Biggles coldly. “It was a pilot playing this selfish game who introduced the epidemic of hard-pad that’s killing hundreds of dogs up and down the land. But you can make your excuses in Court”. Biggles takes Landerville’s word that he won’t run away and he lets him go home and put the dogs in his kennels. Later the same day, back at the Ops Rooms, Biggles explains that he thought he knew what was going on. He guessed it was an obsolete form of aircraft being used; the free balloon. “Forty years ago ballooning was still a popular sport. There were aviation meetings, and races in which trained aeronauts took part. Some of those men are still alive”. A balloon lands by releasing gas and throwing out an anchor. It was an anchor that had caused the scars on the land. Biggles knew the wind was from the south or south-west and so he knew it was coming from France. The line of trees with the lights behind made a good landmark. Biggles had recalled the name Landerville and made enquiries earlier at the Aero club, where aeronaut’s certificates were issued. Forty years ago, two leading balloonists were two brothers named Landerville. Biggles guessed the other brother was in France and rang up Captain Joudrier in Paris, who was soon able to inform Biggles that an Englishman called Oscar Landerville was a dog breeder on the coast of Normandy. “It was then plain that the ballooning brothers were running a shuttle-service across the Channel. For what purpose? Well, both were dog-breeders. Dogs were the cargo. It seemed silly, but not so silly as one might think. No one can import a dog into this country without leaving it for six months in quarantine, to prevent the introduction of that killing disease rabies. It upsets a lot of people to lose their pets, and some would, no doubt, be prepared to pay handsomely to avoid the regulation. That was the racket”. Ginger wanted to know how Biggles knew exactly when the balloon would arrive. Biggles explains that he had Joudrier watch the Landerville establishment and notify him “when the balloon went up”. With the speed of the wind known, it was simple arithmetic to work out the estimated time of arrival.