BIGGLES IN THE TERAI
Book First Published in February 1966 - 176 pages
I believe this Biggles book was never serialised elsewhere. If anybody knows differently then please E-MAIL ME
The first edition dust jacket showing the original price of 10
shillings and 6 pence
Algy, working with the Indian
Security Police to assist them in a gold smuggling racket, has disappeared.
Flying to Northern India, Biggles, taking Bertie with him, lands at Shara, just below Nepal, where a 12 mile strip of Jungle
all along the Southern border of Nepal called the Terai, forms a perfect
boundary with India. Assisted by an Indian mechanic called Ram Singh, Biggles
and Bertie commence looking for Algy. They know he had borrowed an Indian Air
Force Hunter aircraft from Calcutta and was flying in that when he disappeared.
Approached by a sinister stranger with a wooden leg, called Holman Larta,
Biggles is suspicious of his offers of help. Later an attempt is made to murder
both Biggles and Bertie while they are asleep in their beds. Ram Singh is asked
to sleep in Biggles and Bertie's plane, in order to protect it from sabotage
during the night. This is a wise precaution because a man named Bula Din
attempts to place a deadly snake in their plane but is stopped when Ram raises
the alarm. Constant methodical aerial searching of the Terai jungle has
revealed a hidden airstrip. Biggles lands and Bertie flies the plane away,
leaving Biggles to investigate. The next day a mysterious plane tries to land
only to be shot at by a hidden gunman. The plane flies away and the gunman
disappears. Bertie returns and his plane is hidden. The mystery plane later
returns only to be scared off by gunfire from the mysterious gunman again. This
time Biggles sneaks up on the gunman and finds he is Subahdar Mahomad Khan. Khan asks if he is addressing Captain
Bigglesworth and says that he is with Mr. Algy Lacey! Algy has crashed in the
jungle a month ago and suffered a double fracture to the leg but Khan has found
him and been looking after him. Meeting up with Algy, he tells Biggles and
Bertie that the airstrip is being used by the gold smugglers as a dropping off
point. Holman Larta is behind it and hides the gold in his wooden leg to get
through customs. Unable to take Algy with him at this stage, Biggles and Bertie
return to Shara and then have to return to fetch Algy
before the monsoon breaks. Larta, Din and the other gold smugglers are all
arrested. The dust cover shows two aircraft over the outline of a vulture
sitting in a tree.
There are no story illustrations in this book
Biggles in the Terai
Publication Details - published by Brockhampton
Press
Frontispiece
Click on the above to see it in more detail