BIGGLES SEES TOO MUCH

by Captain W. E. Johns

5. COMPLICATIONS (Pages 47 – 55)

Bertie returns but there is still no sign of Ginger. Biggles says there is no use going to look for him in the dark. Biggles goes to a cottage called Fernside where he has been told a woman lets rooms out. In five minutes, he is back to tell Bertie that Mrs. Cator, the landlady, only has one single room for one person. Biggles is going to stay there, but he will need his kit. Bertie is assigned to return to Polcarron to get Biggles’ pyjamas and toilet things and once they have been delivered to Biggles, Bertie will then have to return to Polcarron to sleep. Berties drives back to Polcarron, where, at the Fishermen’s Arms, he finds Tom the barman has gone and there is a new man he hasn’t seen before. “A slim, swarthy fellow who certainly looked anything but English”. Bertie enquires about Tom and is told that Tom has left, he just walked out. Bertie gets in his car, which he had left outside the pub, only to be spoken to by Tom, who is hiding in the back seat. Tom says he has been fired because he “talked too much” by Mr. Brunner. Tom tells Bertie that Brunner runs the pub for a Mr. Julius Brunner, who must be a relation. Tom says he has found a room in the village to stay and he wants to ask Bertie’s advice because there is “something queer going on at the Fishermen’s Arms”. Tom speaks of “These comings and goings at all hours; all very secretive. Queer people. All colours. I don’t like the look of some of ‘em. They never talk to me. They come and they go. Maybe I only see ‘em once. A shifty-looking lot. Usually come in twos or threes. Never go out. They can’t be ordinary people on holiday, because they never have any luggage when they arrive, although I notice they’ve usually got a suitcase when they go”. Tom wonders if he ought to tell the police. “By this time Bertie was wondering if he should take Tom into his confidence and tell him who he really was and what he was doing in Polcarron. He decided against it. It was too soon. It might do more harm than good. Moreover, there was just a possibility that Tom was a spy acting for the enemy; that all this was a trick to find out how much he knew or suspected”. Bertie advises Tom to say nothing to anyone. Tom says he can be found at one of the cottages along the front, number eight, where a widow called Mrs. Berry takes in lodgers. Tom leaves the car and Bertie sees someone step back into the shadows. He thinks it’s the new barman at the hotel. Bertie decides not to warn Tom as he is walking away, “a decision he was shortly to regret”. Bertie drives back to Penlock and goes to Biggles’ lodgings at Fernside Cottage where he speaks to Mrs. Cator. Biggles has gone out and left no message. Bertie is surprised by this as Biggles was expecting him. He waits outside in the car for Biggles until eleven o’clock, then decides he has to return to the Fishermen’s Arms or he will be locked out. Berties does this and makes sure he locks his bedroom door at the hotel.