BIGGLES FOREIGN LEGIONNAIRE

by Captain W. E. Johns

III. THE BAR PIGALE (Pages 36 – 46)

“The bistro known at The Bar Pigale, owned by a stout, jovial Frenchman, known to everyone as Louis, was typical of hundreds of similar establishments to be found in French North Africa”. Behind the Bar was a grove of bedraggled date palms. “The reputation of this retreat, it must be admitted, was not of the best, and sinister tales were whispered of dark deeds that had occurred in it, involving both legionnaires and Arabs, not so long ago. More than one legionnaire, perhaps the worse for drink and with his hard-earned pay in his pocket, had gone in never to be seen again, alive or dead. There were old disused wells in the kasbah, it was said, that were ideal receptacles for the disposal of corpses”. With plenty of time before their meeting with Marcel, Biggles and Ginger leave the barracks and head for town. The find a place to sit and watch the road in case Voudron also heads into town. In due course, Voudron does come along the road and they follow him to a house called “Villa Mimosa”. A brass plate outside says it is the home of “Jules Raban. Avocat”, which means lawyer. Biggles and Ginger go into the grounds of the house after him, with Biggles saying to Ginger, “Come on – quiet”. (“Come on – quiet!” is the illustration opposite page 30). Through the slatted shutters of a window on the ground floor, not fully closed, Biggles and Ginger see a short, dark, stout man, immaculately dressed meeting with Sergeant Voudron. The window is closed, so they hear nothing and shortly afterwards the man closes the curtains. Before they can leave, Biggles and Ginger see a man walk down the drive. “For a moment the moonlight fell on the head and shoulders of a massively-built negro. A key scraped in a lock”. The gate has been locked, but Biggles and Ginger are able to leave the grounds by climbing over the wall. With another forty minutes before their meeting with Marcel, Biggles and Ginger wait outside to see how long Voudron stays. It takes twenty minutes for him to reappear. “At the precise moment that the negro was unlocking the gate for him who should come along but Marcel”. The men stand still and Marcel passes by without noticing them. Voudron then starts to follow Marcel but as they are both heading into town, this doesn’t seem too suspicious at the time. Marcel goes to the Bar Pigale, but Voudron goes to the nearby Kasbah. Biggles and Ginger wait outside of the Bar Pigale ,on the opposite side of the road in a narrow archway, until the time for their appointment with Marcel arrives. They see Voudron come out of the Kasbah with two Arabs. “What’s he doing with that nasty-looking pair of cut-throats?” muttered Biggles. In due course Marcel comes out of the Bar Pigale and goes towards the grove at the rear to keep their appointment. The two Arabs follow him. Voudron leaves the Arabs and goes into the Bar Pigalle. Biggles and Ginger go to the grove and find that the area covers about an acre of ground. They see Marcel standing under a palm in the act of lighting a cigarette. They then see the Arabs approaching him, vague shapes in the moonlight, which glints off an object in the hands of one of the men. Ginger shouts a warning to Marcel. “Prenez garde, commandant (“Take care, commander”) he cried shrilly, and darted forward”.