BIGGLES FOREIGN LEGIONNAIRE

by Captain W. E. Johns

XIV. OUTSIDERS TAKE A HAND (Pages 160 – 169)

“The night that followed was as strange as any that Ginger could remember”. When dawn comes one of the two guards on the far side of the bridge asks for a drink of water. Biggles comes out with a bucket in his hand. “Come and get it,” he said. “We’ll call a truce for five minutes. No tricks”. In exchange for the water, the man gives them some information. He says the plan is to pull out and burn everything. “They know they can’t get you out”. Everyone is going to return to Alex in the Douglas. The other machines will all be burnt. The man leaves and Biggles tells Ginger he didn’t think of that. They themselves won’t be able to get out, Biggles tells Ginger. “An Arab, properly equipped and knowing the desert tracks, might do it. But not us. By noon the sand would burn the soles of our feet”. Some of the camp dwellers approach the castle. Von Stalhein is with them. Pantenelli and Festwolder follow slowly. Suddenly there is a gunshot and the Kurds attack in force. “Out of a defile in the hills swept a compact band of horsemen, waving swords, galloping like madmen”. The men remaining in the camp are soon all killed. Some of the men near the castle “made the natural but fatal mistake of running towards the camp. Among these were Pantenelli and Festwolder. Not one reached it. Shots rang out from the hillside. Festwolder was one of those who fell”. The Arabs fall on the rest and it is soon over. Von Stalhein and another man who had been with him reach the two guards by the bridge. “More bearded, turbaned tribesmen, their sand-coloured robes tied up round their hips, were leaping down to intercept them”. Biggles and Ginger open fire with their Lugers at the Arabs causing them to dive for cover. Three of the men dash for the bridge. “Von Stalhein, not in the least flustered, moving more slowly, covered their rear, coolly and deliberately firing at any Kurd that showed. Biggles calls them all in to the safety of the castle. Von Stalhein walks across the bridge, following his men. “Good morning,” greeted Biggles, smiling curiously, “You seem to be having a spot of bother outside”. Biggles says he thinks there are no fewer than two hundred attackers. Biggles says “Since we seem to have plenty on our plate without fighting each other may I take it that our own hostilities are suspended until further notice”. The three men agree promptly but von Stalhein hesitates before agreeing. Biggles asks if he has any cigarettes and they share von Stalhein’s last two. “Biggles took one. Von Stalhein took the other and fitted it carefully into the long holder he habitually used”. They are low on ammunition, the three men having none, von Stalhein having one cartridge and Biggles with ten and Ginger with seven. Von Stalhein asks Biggles if he saw what happened to Pantenelli and Festwolder. “They were shot. If the shots didn’t kill them they will have had their throats cut by now” replies Biggles. Von Stalhein asks Biggles if he expects any reinforcements. “Usually you have a card up your sleeve” he says drily. “On this occasion my cards are all on the table” replies Biggles. “What about Lacey and Lissie?” Biggles says that they are in Alex with no way of getting there and even if they had, “I don’t see what they could do against this mob of fanatics”. “The day dragged on. Those in the castle had nothing to do but watch the Kurds cleaning up the camp. It was, thought Ginger, a queer end to their assignment, to stand watching a horde of barbarians doing what they themselves had set out to do – and doing it effectively. The squadron and its leaders were finished. Even more remarkable was it to be in the same room, for the first time ever, with von Stalhein, without hostility by word or action on either side”. In the late afternoon, they hear a Dragon aircraft. It circles the camp low over the Kurds, who scatter. Then it leaves. “Whoever it was,” said Biggles definitely, “he’s gone away quite sure of one thing, and that is, there isn’t’ a living European in this valley”. No one answered.