BIGGLES IN THE UNDERWORLD

by Captain W. E. Johns

7. WHAT BECAME OF BERTIE (Pages 75 – 84)

“For how long Bertie remained unconscious – stunned would perhaps be a better word – he had no means of knowing; but it could not have been for very long. He recovered his senses slowly, in darkness as black as the inside of a cave, and it took him some minutes to remember what had happened. Slowly it all came back. Only then did he realize where he was. It dawned on him that the haystack must be hollow; a dummy; and he had fallen into the middle of it”. Bertie has no idea of time and can see nothing. Although he has his petrol lighter in his pocket, he daren’t risk using it in case he sets fire to the hay as he has been half smothered by the stuff. He can smell hay and other things. Petrol. Oil. Aeroplane dope. He realises that he is not seriously hurt and groping around in the darkness comes across the wing of an aeroplane. So Caine had told the truth, he did own an aircraft. The barn was being used as a hanger and a clever hiding place. Bertie now needs to get out, but feeling around the inside of the hay walls, he can’t find any door. Bertie thinks of tearing his way through the hay, but compressed into trusses, with more trusses on top, he is in danger of bringing it all down on himself. He considers using his lighter again but one spark might set the place ablaze. “To be burnt alive, as he most certainly would be, was not the way he would have chosen to make his exit from the world”. Bertie tries climbing out, but the bales are only balanced on each other, and he is in danger of being crushed by a falling wall. Bertie knows the plane must he taken out to the field to fly and it would take two men to move it. “Caine would be one, no doubt. And the other? The Sheikh? Why not? They had been seen together”. Bertie decides his only course of action is to wait for sunrise and the daylight at the top will enable him to find a way out. To this end, he sits on an undercarriage wheel, then he moves to sit in the cockpit. Hoping to have a nap, Bertie is disturbed by running footsteps and a single, powerful electric bulb being turned on. A man walks up to the plane and sees Bertie in the cockpit and is astonished. “Bertie, on his part, as the light fell on the man’s face, recognised him instantly from the photograph Biggles had shown him. It was Nick the Sheikh”. The Sheikh says “Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?” Bertie adjusted his monocle. “Matter of fact I fell in,” he stated with a smile. “And having fallen in I couldn’t get out”. Bertie explains how he was chased by the dog and what happened. “What were you doing when the dog found you?” asked the Sheikh icily. Bertie says he was on his way to the house to ask if he could use the phone to get help with his car. Bertie is told to get out of the cockpit and when he does so, he finds himself looking down the muzzle of an automatic pistol. Bertie says if the gun goes off, it might start a bonfire. The Sheikh taps Bertie pockets, presumably to check for weapons and says “Who sent you here and for what purpose?” Bertie tries to bluff it out but the Sheikh pulls his razor and holds it inches from Bertie’s face. “Now talk,” he said through gritted teeth. “What about?” inquired Bertie. “For an instant he thought he had gone too far, for the Sheikh’s face flushed with anger and it looked as if he was really going to strike. “Talk,” he hissed. “You can’t fool me. Who sent you here? Quick, or by the time I’ve finished with you your own mother won’t know you”. “Bertie perceived he was in a tight spot and it may have sharpened his wits”. Bertie says Caine sent him. He says he met him at the Icarian Club in London. “I’ve never seen you there” says the Sheikh. “I’ve never seen you there, if it comes to that” replies Bertie. “Don’t try getting smart with me,” grated the Sheikh viciously, holding up the razor as if he really intended to strike. “How the clash would have ended is a matter for surmise, but at this critical juncture there came an interruption. A voice spoke; a voice hard and brittle with authority. “Stand back, Lazor, or I’ll drop you cold!” It was Biggles. Biggles slides down the inner wall to land on the truss that Bertie came down with earlier. The Sheikh takes the opportunity to dash out of the hidden door in the hay, but he leaves it open and then fires a shot back into the haystack, sending a stream of sparks in the general direction of Bertie. “Biggles shouted: “Watch the outside, Ginger,” and ran on to the door. Bertie followed closely.