BIGGLES AND THE LITTLE GREEN GOD

by Captain W. E. Johns

8. BARRENDO GIVES HIS VERSION (Pages 76 – 86)

Biggles, having taken the chair, and a cigarette that had been offered to him, spoke. “If it isn’t a rude question, why should our arrival give you pleasure, Senor Barrendo?” “I was just thinking of calling you on the telephone when you were announced,” was the surprising reply. Barrendo says he thought they might want to see him “about the unfortunate business that brought you here”. He doesn’t know what it is, but he can guess. Barrendo gives the reason he wanted to see Biggles. “It was merely to warn you, as a visitor to our country, to be careful what you do here; to whom you talk and what you say. Things are not always as peaceful as they may appear. To be perfectly frank, I doubt if you will learn much, so it might be better if you went home before running into trouble”. Biggles thanks Barrendo for the advice but he intends to stay. He asks how Barrendo knew they were there and Barrendo surprises Biggles by saying that Pallimo rang him up to tell him. Biggles gets out the letter he has received and ask Barrendo if he wrote it. “I most certainly did not write it. I would not have presumed to take such a liberty” is the reply. “You have just given us similar advice, I might say a warning,” reminded Biggles. Barrendo tells him “It is one thing to give advice in person, but a different matter altogether to present, anonymously, what almost amounts to an ultimatum”. Biggles asks if he can ask a few questions. He tells Barrendo, that whilst in London, Pallimo acquired a small statue. “Yes, I know. I would have liked it myself. In fact, being in London at the time I attended the sale hoping to buy it, but I was not prepared to pay as much as he did, for what, after all, is only a curio”. Barrendo adds that he is a collector of Inca and pre-Inca relics and “it seemed a lot of money to pay for a single item”. Barrendo knows what Pallimo purchased. “It was a prehistoric object of worship, probably of the period known at the Chauvin culture, a god if you like, named Atu-Hua”. Barrendo also knows that O’Higgins was given the god to bring back and says he knows O’Higgins as well. “He also is a collector of local antiquities, and has done some excellent work deciphering inscriptions on ancient monuments”. Barrendo said he was on the plane by coincidence. He received word that his brother was critically ill in Buenos Aires and went to see him before he died. Barrendo asks Biggles what his interest is in Atu-Hua. Biggles says he has no interest in the idol itself, beyond establishing that it has definitely been lost as it was insured for a large sum and the British government has to watch how much of its currency goes abroad. Biggles says he cannot understand why that should put him in any sort of danger. Barrendo tells him that some people might resent his interference in what they would regard as a purely domestic matter; the Araucanian Indians for example. That is as far as Barrendo can help them and Biggles and Algy take their leave and part on friendly terms. Algy says “Barrendo couldn’t have been more helpful, more open and above board” and Biggles agrees saying “I got that impression, too. If he wasn’t telling the truth, and the whole truth as far as he knew it, he must be a pastmaster in the art of lying convincingly”. Biggles wants time to think over Barrendo’s version of the story. All the people so far in the picture would like to possess this missing god. They walk back to the taxi at the drive gate. As they get in, two figures come out from a hedge of prickly pear and advance swiftly on them. Biggles warns Algy to “Watch out” and he tells the taxi driver to “Drive on”. Guns are fired at them and something smacks into the rear of the car. Biggles and Algy are both alright and Algy wonders “Who could have set those toughs on to us?” Biggles doesn’t know. He says “Well, now that some skunk has set our clock right for us, we shall have to be more careful. I still don’t understand it. I can only suppose we’ve blundered into a very nasty plot of some sort, for somebody to go to all this trouble to rub us out. Anyway, now we know where we stand. In the morning, as soon as it’s light, we’ll get cracking”.