BIGGLES FOREIGN LEGIONNAIRE

by Captain W. E. Johns

XVII. AFTERMATH (Pages 187 – 190)

“So ended a case which provided Biggles and his comrades with material for argument and conjecture for many days to come. The war-mongering racket had been wiped out completely”. “With the death of the ringleaders the rank and file would inevitably break up when no more pay was forthcoming”. “The Air-Commodore’s explanation of the final phase was simple”. The Dragon had flown to Mosul, where the Air-Commodore had reported the raid, withholding his own particular interest. “The Iraqui Government, it transpired, knew there were people in the Valley of the Tartars, but was under the impression that they were prospecting for oil. Indeed, Klutz had obtained a concession for that purpose. Anyway, officials at Mosul had reported the raid to Baghdad, with the result that a punitive force had been sent out. This sort of thing, to them, was nothing new”. Raymond and the others had returned to the Valley for no other purpose than to find and bury the bodies of Biggles and Ginger, not for a moment supposing they were still alive. “The Dragon finished its day’s work at Baghdad, and there, at the Maude Hotel, arose the question of the disposal of von Stalhein and the surviving members of the Valley establishment. After some discussion with Biggles the Air-Commodore decided there was no case against them. It was useless to surmise what von Stalhein would have done had he been given time and opportunity; the fact was, he had joined the gang just in time to witness its dissolution”. The Air-Commodore, “fearing political repercussions thought it better to let sleeping dogs – and dead dogs – lie. So the men were allowed to go free, Marcel warning them that if ever they set foot on French soil they would be arrested as deserters from the Foreign Legion. He could not, of course, arrest them on foreign soil, and it was hardly worth while going through the long and difficult process of extradition”. “Raban and Voudron, who were under arrest in French North Africa, were not so lucky. They were tried, and sent to prison, one for inducing legionnaires to desert, and the other for aiding and abetting him. The Villa Mimosa is now empty”. “It may as well be said here that the murders in the Hotel Continentale were never regarded by the Egyptian police as anything but the work of an ordinary thief. What ultimately happened to the man responsible, Lindsay, was not known, for when the Scotland Yard party got back to London, he had vanished. They never saw him, or heard of him, again”. With regard to von Stalhein, “in spite of all that was known of his sinister activities and associations there was no case against him, either, for the simple reason that nothing could be proved”. Biggles asks von Stalhein if he wants a lift to Egypt where they were going to return the Dragon to its owners and he said he was quite cable of taking care of himself. Von Stalhein asked if he was free to go and when told yes, “he clicked his heels, bowed, turned abruptly and marched out of the hotel to mingle with the motley brown-skinned crowd taking the air after the heat of the day”. “A strange man,” remarked the Air-Commodore. “I wonder what he'll do?” “Oh, he’ll find some mischief somewhere, no doubt,” replied Biggles. “It seems to be one of the things he does really well”. “He’s had a lot of practice” says Raymond. Biggles says “He also seems to be as good at getting out of scrapes - ” “As you do,” murmured the Air-Commodore succinctly.

* * * * *

“Today, in Biggles’s private museum, there is a souvenir of this strange affair. It is a small buttonhole badge, and the device is an Oriental Lamp – the one, as Ginger says, they helped to put out”.

Page 191 - An advert for ‘KINGS OF SPACE’ (published in May 1954).