Biggles Delivers the Goods

‘It appeared that they were about to do you a personal injury when we arrived, sir,’ said Biggles.

‘That was undoubtedly the intention,’ asserted the Major. ‘The rascals had heard about my rubies. I have some very fine ones, you know. Apart from these there is some very valuable jewellery that belonged to my wife: That confounded officer wanted to know where I kept the valuables. I wouldn’t tell him—not me. No sir.’

‘If they had learned about the rubies that would be sufficient reason for the raid,’ opined Biggles. ‘The question is, how did they learn about them?’

‘No idea—no idea at all,’ answered the major. ‘My people are absolutely trustworthy. If it comes to that, they seldom go down the river.’

Biggles accepted a drink and looked at Li Chi. ‘You may have been indirectly responsible,’ he remarked.

Li Chi raised his eyebrows.

‘You know about the rubies,’ Biggles pointed out. ‘So, presumably, did Ayert, since he came here with you. Did you ever speak of them when you returned to Elephant Island?’

‘We may have done.’

‘Then Pamboo may have overheard you talking. I’m beginning to wonder how much that fellow does know. One spy in a camp can learn a lot if he has the run of the place.’

Li Chi admitted the truth of this.

‘What brought you fellows here, anyway?’ demanded Major Marling. ‘I don’t encourage visitors, you know. I see by your uniforms that you’re in the Air Force. Had a forced landing, perhaps?’

‘No. We made a special trip to see you,’ said Biggles.

Li Chi explained the object of the visit. ‘Of course, this raid has altered the entire situation,’ he concluded.

‘Why has it?’ asked the major curtly.

‘I imagine you won’t stay on here now, after what has happened today,’ observed Biggles.

Major Marling flared up. ‘And why not, sir? What the deuce do you take me for? Do I look the sort of man who would bolt at the first spot of bother—eh?’

‘No,’ conceded Biggles. ‘But in view of what has just happened it may be supposed that you will have more unwelcome visitors at Shansie. I imagined—’

‘Imagined what, sir?’ broke in the major indignantly. ‘My place is with my people so here I stay. There’s nothing more to be said about it.’

Biggles shrugged. ‘That’s up to you, sir. I’ve nothing more to say. Sorry I raised the subject.’

‘There’s another reason why I should stay,’ declared the major. ‘You want more rubber don’t you?’

‘Yes—if you can get it.’

‘Of course I can get it.’

‘That’s fine,’ returned Biggles. ‘But I can’t see that it is going to be easy. You’ll have more Japanese here. They’re bound to send another party to find out what has become of this lot.’

‘I shall be ready for them. They won’t catch me napping twice. No sir.’

‘Then the only problem that remains to be solved is this. How are we going to maintain contact with you? I’m thinking particularly of the rubber. I question whether your people will be able to get down to the coast and it’s unlikely that we shall be able to get up the river a second time.’

‘The enemy may not find it easy to discover what has happened to their first raiding party,’ argued the major. ‘All traces of the visit will be removed.’

‘But the fact that you are British will be enough to warrant your arrest.’

‘I may find it expedient to take steps to conceal my nationality—and I should have no difficulty in doing that.’

‘How are you going to dispose of the launch?’

Major Marling rubbed his chin. ‘Yes, that’s a bit of a poser,’ he admitted. ‘No use trying to sink it. The river here isn’t deep enough to cover it.’

‘In that case we had better take it with us when we go,’ announced Biggles. ‘As a matter of fact I could probably find a use for it. Anyway, by using it we should make much faster time home than if we used the kabang. I understand the launch has a burden of fifty tons. We could take that much rubber with us if you feel inclined to let us have it?’

It was Li Chi’s turn to look at Biggles askance. ‘Are you thinking seriously of trying to take that vessel through the enemy forces stationed at the estuary? Tamashoa’s headquarters is at Victoria Point, at the mouth of the river.’

‘If we start fairly soon we should be at the estuary just before dawn, the darkest part of the night,’ answered Biggles evenly. ‘The usual river mist at that hour should also help to provide us with cover.’

‘The Japanese will hear the engine even if they don’t see the launch.’

‘What of it? They’ll be expecting the launch back, won’t they?’ Biggles smiled. ‘The last thing to occur to them will be that it has changed hands.’

‘Suppose we are challenged?’

‘You mean—from the shore?’

‘Yes.’

‘You speak Japanese.’

‘Yes.’

‘Very well, you can answer.’

‘And say what?’

‘Anything you like. Say that we have orders to move to a new berth. By the time enquiries have been made we should be well out in the strait.’

Li Chi smiled. ‘I once fooled a British gunboat like that. It might be done.’

‘Then let’s try it.’

‘It’s an audacious trick,’ put in Major Marling.

‘In my experience the more audacious the scheme the more likely it is to succeed,’ returned Biggles. ‘It’s the little things that go wrong—things within the limit of the enemy’s imagination. What does exercise my mind is not getting out, but how we are to get back should occasion arise. We ought to have a line of communication with Shansie. A landing ground for aircraft would be the ideal thing, but I’m afraid the river here is too narrow, and winds about too much for a flying boat to get down on it.’

‘I haven’t a landing ground at the moment because the last thing I wanted here was any of those noisy devils’ contraptions that you call aeroplanes,’ said Major Marling. ‘But no doubt something could be done.’

‘What have you in mind?’ asked Biggles curiously.

‘By digging a trench I could drain the paddy fields to provide a hard level surface, if that is what you want. It would mean cutting the rice, but that doesn’t matter. Alternatively I could break through the river bank just above here and flood the fields to a depth of two or three feet. Years ago we used to have serious floods, but by building an embankment we have been able to keep the river in its bed. A charge of dynamite would soon alter that.’

Biggles looked pleased. ‘That’s excellent, sir. It’s all we should need. The machine I’m using at the moment for communication work is an amphibian, so I don’t care whether the airfield is land or water.’

‘Dry land would suit me better as a flood would make things more difficult for my people.’

‘Very well, sir, I’ll leave it to you,’ decided Biggles. ‘I take it that if I turn up here in an aircraft I shall find some sort of landing field available?’

‘I’ll see to it,’ promised the major. ‘There’s just one other matter—a detail.’ Addressing Li Chi he went on, ‘I have here several Chinese and Lascars, the crew of a ship sunk by the enemy in the Gulf of Siam,^*1 on the other side of the Isthmus. Reaching the shore they fled inland and eventually reached Shansie in a famished condition. They are not very happy here. I think they would prefer to do something more active, apart from which they are rather a drain on our resources. If you are going to take the launch it would seem to provide an opportunity for them to get out.’

‘I could find work for them,’ promised Li Chi. ‘How many are there?’

‘Sixteen—mostly greasers and stokers^*2—engine room crew, so I understand.’

‘All right. With the approval of Squadron Leader Bigglesworth, if these men will put themselves under my orders, they may come.’

‘Good. I shall be glad to get rid of them. They’re an ugly looking crowd.’

‘And now I have a request to make,’ went on Li Chi. ‘My fellows on Elephant Island are short of rifles. What about those we have captured today from the Japanese? Do you want them or may I have them?’

‘Take them by all means,’ offered the major. ‘I certainly don’t want them here. I don’t want anything left about that might tell Japanese visitors what became of the men who arrived today.’

At this juncture Ayert returned, with Malong the overseer. They looked well satisfied with themselves. The survivors of the enemy force, they asserted, had been disposed of—although they did not put it like that. Their description of the final scene was lurid—a trifle too lurid, Ginger thought. Ayert was informed of the arrangements, and approved them.

‘When do you intend to start?’ the major asked Biggles.

‘The sooner the better.’

‘You’ll stay for lunch, of course? It will take some little time to load up the rubber?’

‘Thanks,’ accepted Biggles.

‘Then let us get the work in hand,’ said Major Marling briskly.

Two hours later the Lotus cast off with the kabang in tow and headed downstream carrying fifty tons of fine crepe rubber, and the sixteen survivors of the ship that had been sunk in the Gulf of Siam. They were, Biggles remarked to Ginger, as tough-looking a pack of pirates as he had ever seen in one place. ‘No wonder the major wanted to get rid of them,’ he concluded, smiling.

Li Chi, who overheard this remark, surprised Ginger by observing, casually, that in his opinion they were pirates. He smiled at Ginger’s expression and added: ‘Oh yes, there are still plenty of pirates in the China Seas.’

‘Better keep them away from those Japanese rifles,’ said Biggles seriously.

‘Don’t worry about that,’ returned Li Chi easily. ‘These fellows will do as I tell them. If there is any trouble I’ll let Ayert loose among them with his parang.’ He walked over to the wheel which was being handled in a businesslike way by his ferocious-looking bosun.

Biggles smiled faintly as he lit a cigarette. ‘We seem to have landed among some nice people,’ he remarked to Ginger.

‘The fellow I’m sorry for is Prince Lalla,’ replied Ginger. ‘I had a long talk with him after lunch. Nice lad. He’s burning to get into the war. It’s a pretty lonely sort of life for a chap of his age, stuck up here at the back of beyond.’

Biggles nodded, watching the monotonous river banks slide by. ‘So I imagine,’ he murmured.

Suddenly Ginger laughed quietly.

‘What’s funny?’ inquired Biggles.

‘Us,’ answered Ginger. ‘The things we do. To most people at home this part of the globe is now a place as inaccessible as the moon, crawling with Japanese; yet here we are, right in the middle of it, cruising along as if the country and the launch belonged to us.’

‘As a matter of fact they do,’ returned Biggles drily. ‘The Japanese only borrowed them for a little while—a loan for which they’ll have to pay a heavy rate of interest.’

After that they fell silent. The afternoon passed. The river rolled on, unchanging. The jungle steamed. The sun sank. Twilight dimmed the scene. The refugee crew disposed themselves in the bows, looking like heaps of dirty linen. Fireflies danced along the fringe of trees. The Lotus thrust its blunt nose into the stream, parting the turgid water. Biggles stood by the rail, smoking, deep in thought. Ginger lay down on the hard deck and fell asleep.