BIGGLES AND THE LITTLE GREEN GOD

by Captain W. E. Johns

6. BIGGLES MAKES A CALL (Pages 54 – 65)

“Without any incident worthy of note the Merlin completed its passage over what must be some of the most breath-taking scenery in the world. The very size of the mountains leaves the spectator with a feeling of wonder at the stupendous magnificence of creation”. They land at Los Cerrillos airport, but there is no difficulty. “English is taught in schools and is therefore commonly spoken”. “I think the first thing would be to sample the local notions of some steak and kidney pudding, or what have you. I’m peckish after our long hop” say Biggles. They get a taxi to the hotel Santa Lucia and after a wash and brush up, order the recommended dish Cazuela de Ave, which turns out to be an appetizing casserole of chicken with mixed vegetables. Afterwards, they go and call on a Scot named Mr. Thurburn, an agent for several British firms, recommended to them by Air Commodore Raymond. “A grey-haired, clean shaven man of about sixty” rises to meet them. Biggles asks if he has been told why they are there. Thurburn only knows they are inquiring into the loss of a package that disappeared with the aircraft travelling from Buenos Aires to Santiago. He doesn’t know what was in the package. Biggles asks if he knows Don Pallimo and he does, describing him as utterly reliable. Biggles says Pallimo put the package on the plane in the care of a Chilean gentleman named O’Higgins. Thurburn only knows O’Higgins by reputation. “He’s a quiet, retiring man, more concerned with history and archaeology than business. Don Pallimo would know him well, of course. He was interested in the same subjects, although in a more amateurish way”. Biggles says a man called Barrendo was also on the plane, but he left it at Buenos Aires. “That’s a pity” is Thurburn’s reply. “He’s a disturbing influence, to put it mildly”. Thurburn says the man is something of a firebrand. “The stuff dictators are made of … the Hitlers and Mussolinis of this world. He’s a full half-caste. His mother was an Indian woman, and that, naturally, gives him a big following among the native people in the sierras”. “He’s a dangerous man. A schemer. He’s ruthless and ambitious. If he had his way, if ever he got into power he could, and probably would, turn the country upside down”. “My own feeling is, like many men of mixed breed he has a chip on his shoulder. He resents being what he is because he believes, quite wrongly, that because he is coloured he is despised by the pure whites. Already he is trying to split the country into two factions, the whites and the Indians”. Biggles takes Thurburn into his confidence and tells him what was in the package. “It was a carved jade idol with a larger ruby inset in it”. Biggles says it was “Atu-Hua”. This is met by silence. Thurburn then explains “In Chile, also in Bolivia and Peru for that matter, it is part of local lore that the success of the Spanish invaders, five hundred years ago, was due to their seizure of the god Atu-Hua. It is also believed that if ever the god returned to its original home the Europeans would be forced to leave the country”. The Indians believe that and a man who could produce the god would find himself in a position of great power with the natives. Biggles can now understand why Pallimo didn’t want someone else to have the god. Biggles says “So the big question now is this. Has Barrendo got the idol, or did it disappear with the plane that failed to arrive here?" Biggles wonders how Atu-Hua got to England. Thurburn says the Spanish would have sent it back to Spain on one of their galleons, but these treasure ships were often waylaid by British pirates and buccaneers, who looted anything of value and divided it among themselves. “What more likely than some ignorant English sea-rover took a fancy to the idol and without having the slightest idea of what it was took it home to England”. Biggles says the last thing he wants is to find himself tangled in South American politics. Thurburn says Pallimo lives at a house called Casa Esmeralda, half-way from where they are to the airport. Barrendo lives on the same road, a mile or so nearer Santiago, in a house called Castel Romello where he has an Indian on duty at the drive gate. Biggles thanks Thurburn for being so helpful and he and Algy leave.