BIGGLES AND THE NOBLE LORD

by Captain W. E. Johns

16. THE LAST STAND (Pages 139 – 147)

“Everyone on the small landing stood still, nerves taut, listening”. Occasionally they can hear words. They hear a voice, speaking in French: “Where is the draught coming from?” Then a new arrival is told “We think there is somebody in the house, monsieur”. Biggles tells the others to remain where they are while he goes to find “the boys”. Biggles comes to landing with no more steps. There is a heavy old door, studded with nails. “Then, to his great relief and satisfaction he saw a big iron key hanging from a hook on the doorpost”. In a moment he has the door open. “Biggles! cried Ginger. “Brother, am I glad to see you!” Biggles cuts him off saying they have to get out fast. Bertie tells Biggles “You’ve arrived in the jolly old nick of time, whatever a nick may be – if you see what I mean. They were going to shoot us today and dump us in that beastly moat”. Biggles stared. “You don’t mean that!” They all go down to the lower landing. Biggles and Antoine both have guns but Biggles says “We’ll avoid shooting if we can. Shooting’s almost bound to mean one of us being hit. That won’t help matters. This is no time or place for casualties”. Biggles thinks they must have triggered off a burglar alarm. A French man starts to come up the spiral staircase. He looks and retreats quickly. Antoine recognises him as Gaston Marow, as they were together in the Resistance. In due course a voice calls out in English. “Come on down. We know you’re up there”. “Come and fetch us,” taunted Biggles. Bertie says the voice was Clarence. “He came with his noble brother to put a proposition to us. We turned it down. They gave us 24 hours to change our minds. Today we were for the high jump. They’re a pair of stinkers”. The voice below calls up “When we drag you out you’ll be red herrings”. A fire is then lit to smoke them out. Biggles says “We shan’t be able to stand too much of this. It looks as if we shall have to fight our way out after all”. Ginger goes to the narrow window for air and sees Marcel coming with a couple of men. Biggles fires three quick shots out of the window to signal to him. Biggles then says “I’m going down. I’d as soon by shot as smoked like a haddock”. With his handkerchief held over his mouth and nose he started groping his way down the steps, for the smoke was now too thick for anything to be seen. A shot is fired up the steps and Biggles fires back. Biggles reaches the fire at the bottom and jumps over it into clear air. “He looked round swiftly, then unbelievingly, for there was not a soul in sight”. The small door in the main entrance is flung open and Marcel, pistol in hand, runs in, followed by his two men. Biggles explains what was happening. Biggles asks Antoine if Garston Marow knew of the tunnel and moves to go to the entrance. They hear the noise of an aircraft engine being started and run to the open front door. A helicopter flies away. Biggles says “There they go! That machine must have been parked on the roof ready for a quick getaway. When they saw you coming, Marcel, they must have realized that the game was up”. “Have no fear, we shall catch them,” declared Marcel. Biggles hands over to Marcel and “While we have some breakfast I will tell you all I know and leave this end for you to clean up”. “That, really, apart from the usual process of the law, was the end of the strange adventure of a noble lord. No men were found in the house”. “It seemed fairly certain that any men who had been living there had escaped through the tunnel, and Biggles had a suspicion that Antoine may have looked the other way, bearing in mind that one of them at least was an old comrade who had served with him in the perilous days of the Resistance. That would have been understandable and excusable”. “However, the search revealed a quantity of jewellery, and some of the gold that had been transported to France, hidden in one place or another”.