BIGGLES AND THE LITTLE GREEN GOD

by Captain W. E. Johns

4. BIGGLES ASKS SOME QUESTIONS (Pages 34 – 44)

(In the index to the first edition book, this chapter is listed as BIGGLES ASK SOME QUESTIONS, a typo misses off the ‘S’ from the word “ASK”. This was corrected in the paperback editions). Biggles goes to his office and “tells his assistant pilot on duty, Algy Lacey, what was afoot”. He asks Algy to go to London Airport to make enquiries about the Chilean aircraft, the Caravana. After a trip to the Chilean Office in London, Biggles finds “Don Carlos Ricardo y Pallimo” is in England, staying at the Hotel Grande in Mayfair. “Clean shaven and black-haired, he had a smooth flawless skin the colour of old ivory. His eyes were dark with a shrewd penetrating quality that indicated more than ordinary intelligence”. Biggles introduces himself saying “I am a specialist in aviation matters from the Air Police department at Scotland Yard. I have been assigned the duty of investigating the disappearance of a valuable object, acquired by you in this country not long ago”. Biggles says the object is believed to be an ancient idol which came originally from the Far East. Pallimo says it is not, and never was, oriental. Biggles asks him how he knows. The reply is “Never mind how I know. Take it from me I do know. It’s (sic) disappearance has upset me very much and I would give a great deal to get it back. If I could think it was lost for ever, at the bottom of the sea for instance, I wouldn’t mind so much. I am more concerned that it does not pass into the hands of another person. That, really is why I bought it”. Pallimo is questioned by Biggles, but he is reluctant to reveal information. He says the man he engaged to take the parcel back was “a man of irreproachable character” called Jose O’Higgins, a direct descendant of the famous Bernado O’Higgins, the soldier and statesman who, in the nineteenth century, as commander of the Chilean Army, liberated Chile from the Spanish Royalists. (Bernado O’Higgins Riquelme, born 20^th August 1778, died 24^th October 1842 was a real person). The parcel was described as being “a small cardboard carton tied up in brown paper by string” and this was done to make it look as if the parcel contained nothing of value. Biggles asks where the idol was originally from and Pallimo says it came from Chile. “There were great civilizations in South America before the Incas, as excavations are now revealing. These earlier people were superlative craftsmen, working in gold and precious stones. They did not know iron”. Pallimo says he “could claim to be the greatest living authority on the first South American civilizations, should I care to do so”. “I even know the name of the god they worshipped. It was Atu-Hua, god of the sierras – the mountains”. Biggles asks “Was it because you recognised the god Atu-Hua that you were so anxious to have it?” “You might say that was one of the reasons”. “Was there another?” asks Biggles. “Yes, but I would rather not discuss it”. Biggles asks “This man O’Higgins. Was he of pure European blood?” Pallimo replies “Naturally, after centuries, there is not much absolutely pure European blood in South America. People intermarry. The great majority of the population is what are called mestizos; that is, of mixed blood. O’Higgins was one”. “Then he might have Inca, or even earlier, native blood in his veins” says Biggles. “It is possible. It is nothing to be ashamed of. Why do you ask?” Biggles tells him “It merely occurred to me that he might have more than just a passing interest in the god of his fore-fathers”. Biggles asks “I take it you are still anxious to recover your lost property, if that is possible!” (There is an exclamation mark here and not a question mark, in both the hardback and paperback versions of the book). “I would give anything to get it back,” stated Don Pallimo in a voice so definite that Biggles gave him a second look. Biggles leaves and returns to Algy at Scotland Yard. Algy has discovered that Pallimo’s courier wasn’t the only paying passenger in the machine that disappeared. There was also a Professor Barrendo, a Chilean authority on early American civilizations. “Apparently he’d been over here to give a lecture to some society and was anxious to get back home. Naturally, the air line would be glad to fill another seat”. Biggles supposes “he went west with the rest of the party”. Algy says he’s okay. He left the plane at “Beunos Aires” (same spelling error) to call on a relative there. “How lucky can some people be?” asks Algy. “So lucky that one would almost think they’d been given the gift of second sight,” Biggles commented meaningly. Biggles reaches to pick up the telephone, saying he has another question he wants to ask Pallimo. “The more I learn about this case the fishier it smells”.