"We were talking about the prisoners," explained Jackson apologetically. "I wasn"t thinking so much about the dump as the people there. It"s the thought of the women that sends me crazy."
"Who are they ? "
"One is Mary Stockton. She"s the daughter of a member of the Consulate staff. Her father must be in a way about her-he was in London making a report to the Foreign Office when the crack-up occurred." As he spoke Jackson blushed slightly, and Biggles understood more clearly why he was so upset.
"She"s a friend of yours ? " he suggested.
"As a matter of fact she"s rather more than that," admitted Jackson. "We had a private understanding about getting married."
"Why didn"t you get her away when you escaped yourself ? "
"That was the idea, but it didn"t work out that way. We were seen and chased before we could get to the women"s quarters. There seemed no point in just giving myself up, so I stayed with Gray and Flannagan."
"I see. Who"s the other woman ? "
"Doctor Harding. She"s American, a specialist on tropical diseases."
"I take it you"d go back to Cotabato if you thought there was a chance of getting your girl away ? "
"You bet your life I would," answered Jackson warmly.
Biggles nodded. "I understand. But let us get this clear. Everyone will, I"m sure, realize that this is a subordinate command, and I can"t do just as I like. I mean, we"re an established unit, and I may be called upon to carry out some special job at any moment. It would be unfair to the people at home if when we were urgently wanted we were off on some jaunt of our own. In other words, I should have to get permission before I started an enterprise that was not of a strictly military nature. The only thing I can do is send the Liberator to Australia right away and see how the A.O.C. feels about it. Angus, you take it down.
Jackson will go with you. Harcourt and Ferris will act as gunners. If the Higher Command views the proposition favourably, try to get hold of an amphibian."
"Are you sure they have such a thing ? " asked Angus.
"Yes, Australia has always been keen on amphibians. They have several types. I"ve got some despatches to go down, so the sooner you start the better. The rest of us will remain here and carry on as usual. That"s all."
Angus nodded. "I"ll get off right away."
"I"d better get ready," put in Jackson.
"Get back as soon as you can," requested Biggles ; "to-morrow night if you can manage it."
" I"ll try," promised Angus. " In still air at cruising speed the trip takes about seven hours."
Twenty minutes later the Liberator roared into the air and headed into the south-eastern sky.
Biggles looked up from the folding table at which he had been making some notes.
"While we"re waiting for the Liberator to come back I think it would be a good thing if we got some photos of this place Cotabato. With photos in front of us, Gray and Flannagan can point out the main features so that we shall have an idea of the layout in case the Higher Command decides to take action. There"s no immediate hurry-to-morrow will do. I shall have to stay here in case Australia tries to get into touch with me, but the other two machines can go. Bertie, you take the camera. Algy will look after your tail while you"re concentrating on the photos."
"Why not let me go with the camera kite ? " suggested Bill Gray. "I know every inch of the ground and can point out the vital spots."
"That"s an idea," agreed Biggles. "But are you well enough ? "
"Well enough to sit in a seat and talk-or, mebbe, handle the guns."
"All right. That"s up to you. I"d be glad of your co-operation. Bertie, that means Bill will go with you instead of Tex."
Algy spoke. "I"ll take Ginger with me, if you don"t mind, in the escort plane."
Biggles raised his eyebrows. "Why Ginger ? What"s the matter with Tug, your regular gunner ? "
"Better ask him yourself;" murmured Algy.
Biggles"s eyes came to rest on Tug. "What"s wrong ? "
Tug, looking sheepish, held up a bandaged wrist. "I was having a round or two with Suba and we got into a clinch. He nearly broke my wrist."
For a moment Biggles looked annoyed. "I"m the last man to object to officers taking recreation, but there"s no sense in putting yourself out of action. The enemy will do that soon enough, no doubt. I need every man I"ve got. If you must fool about, be more careful."
"Yes, sir," responded Tug obediently.
Biggles turned to Algy. "All right. Ginger goes with you in the back seat. If that"s settled I think it"s about all."
CHAPTER VI.
AN UNWELCOME Pa.s.sENGER.
TWO hours before dawn the following day Bertie"s machine was in the air heading north-east, with Bill Gray in the gunner"s c.o.c.kpit. Algy, with Ginger in the rear seat, followed, and took up position just above and behind him.
The atmosphere, although dark, was crystal clear, and Ginger surveyed it with the methodical thoroughness that is the result of long experience. The distance from Lucky Strike to Cotabato, he had ascertained from the map, was about seven hundred miles. By ordinary travel the trip would take many days, perhaps weeks. He expected that the Beaufighters, even at the steady cruising speed at which they were flying, would do it in rather less than three hours. They had judged their time in order to arrive as soon after dawn as the light would permit good photographs being taken.
After crossing the coast the sea provided Ginger with a fertile field for speculation.
Whichever way he looked he could see islands, some large, some mere islets. There were literally hundreds of them, and he found himself wondering who, if anybody, lived on them, and what they did. When the war was over, he decided, a man might do worse than make a protracted cruise round these remote fragments of land to see who and what was on them.
The Beaufighters, having climbed to twenty thousand feet, levelled out and roared on through a lonely sky.
They roared on for an hour, two hours, yet the only thing apart from water that could be seen were the islands that for ever floated up over the edge of the world, to pa.s.s below and disappear astern. The water was calm, unmarked by the wake of a single ship.
Thinking over this strange loneliness, Ginger thought that very few ships would be seen in normal times ; what few there were that used these treacherous waters had either been sunk, or had fled to distant ports.
Dawn was breaking in an extravagant flood of pink and gold when Algy"s voice came over the telephone. "There"s a big slice of mud on the horizon. I think it must be Mindanao."
"Yes, it ought to be the place we"re making for," agreed Ginger, and set about his task of sky-watching with greater vigilance. He knew that j.a.panese aircraft might be encountered at any time, and he had no intention of being caught off his guard. While he did the watching, Bertie and Bill would be able to devote themselves entirely to their task of getting the photographs.
The two Beaufighters roared on towards the land that now entirely filled the horizon ahead. There was no longer any doubt about it being their objective. Details grew more distinct, and Bertie"s machine, guided, Ginger supposed, by Bill Gray, took up a course towards a town of some importance. This turned out to be Cotabato, the objective. In the clear morning light every feature stood out in a manner that promised excellent negatives.
Bertie proceeded with his task while Algy patrolled the sky. There was practically no opposition. It appeared to take the invaders some time to realize that a hostile aircraft was overhead, for it was several minutes before the high-angle guns came into action, and then the shooting was irregular and badly aimed. Towards the finish Ginger saw some machines leaving the ground, but they were too far below to represent a danger. Long before they could climb up to the British machines the Beaufighters would be on their way back. The job looked like being a mere routine one, and as such Ginger was glad when it was over.
Bertie spoke to Algy over the radio, and Algy pa.s.sed the information on to Ginger.
"That"s all," he said. " Bertie reckons he"s got some good stuff. We"ll get home."
Wing to wing the Beaufighters proceeded on the return journey at what was, comparatively speaking, a leisurely pace. There was no need to work the engines hard when there was no immediate hurry. Ginger kept a wary eye on the hostile aircraft until they abandoned the futile chase and turned back towards their base, now a smudge on the horizon. Satisfied that all was well, he relaxed, and prepared to settle himself in his seat.
As he did so, a movement on the floor attracted his attention. For a moment he thought that a cable had come adrift. Then, to his unspeakable horror, he saw that the moving thing was not a cable, but a snake. It was not a very big snake. It was a slim little thing about two feet long. But this did not lull Ginger into a sense of false security. He knew what it was, for he had seen ,one before, in India. It was a krait, perhaps the deadliest reptile on earth. Its bite means death in a few minutes.
For a little while Ginger stared at the creature, saucer-eyed, while the colour drained out of his face. The knowledge that the reptile must have been in the c.o.c.kpit with him for more than three hours gave him such a shock that he was hardly capable of thought.
Where the snake had come from he did not know-not that it mattered. The thing was there. Obviously, it had got into the aircraft while the machine was on the ground. Why it had not bitten him he could not imagine, unless it had been tucked away in some pocket and had been scared or paralyzed by the roar of the engines. One thing was certain : it was not paralyzed now. Nor was it pa.s.sive. With its little tongue flickering, it reared up and gazed at Ginger with such malice in its eyes that his mouth went dry with fear.
What to do he did not know. His first instinct was to jump out of the machine regardless of what lay below. Then he saw the ocean underneath and thought better of it. Desperate thoughts flashed through his mind. It seemed fantastic that although he was armed with machine-guns capable of sinking a fair-sized ship, they were useless to him. He had no other weapon. He wondered vaguely what would happen if they were attacked by hostile planes, for now that the snake was on the move he would not dare to touch his guns. The Beaufighter rocked slightly. The snake hissed.
Ginger remembered the telephone. " Algy, for G.o.d"s sake fly straight," he said in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
Algy answered, unconcerned, " Why ? Is something wrong ? "
Ginger nearly choked. "There"s a snake in my c.o.c.kpit."
"Throw it out," suggested Algy.
"Don"t be a fool," grated Ginger. "It"s a krait." Algy"s voice took on a different tone as he evidently realized the peril. "Where is it ? "
"On the floor-a couple of feet away from me. If you bank you"ll throw it on my feet."
Algy was silent for a moment. "What shall I Ginger was nearly in a panic. "I don"t know," he confessed.
" Haven"t you any suggestion to make ? "
"None. I can"t think of anything-unless I bale out."
"You can"t do that ! "
"But I can"t hope to sit here for over two hours without being bitten."
There was another interval after Ginger had stated this simple fact.
"How about pushing it through the escape hatch ? " suggested Algy.
"What-with my hands ? " sneered Ginger, still staring at the snake, which seemed to be working itself into a fury.
"There"s only one thing for it," announced Algy crisply. "I"ll fly low over an island and you"ll have to bale out. We"ll try to pick you up later. It"s your only chance as far as I can see."
"You realize that even if I go the snake will remain, and it may work its way along to the back of your c.o.c.kpit ? "
"Good lord I " gasped Algy. Clearly, he hadn"t thought of that.
"Are you going to stay in the machine ? " asked Ginger.
"For two hours ? With that thing creeping about ? Not on your life," declared Algy. "I"m going to land, even if it means a crack-up. If I can"t find a flat patch on the next island we"ll both go over together. Just a minute while I tell Bertie the position."
"All right, but don"t be long about it."
The roar of the engines faded to a purr as the Beau-fighter went down in a shallow glide.
Ginger sat and stared at the snake as if it fascinated him. He knew they were losing height, but he dare not risk moving to see where they were. Presently Algy spoke again.
"I"ve told Bertie how we"re fixed. He says we can do nothing but jump out-if we can"t make a landing. He"s going to follow us down to see what happens."
"Go ahead," muttered Ginger, whose nerves were beginning to crack under the strain. "
Will it be better for me to stick to the machine, or jump ? "
"Hang on. I"ll let you know. Wait till I"ve had a look at the next island. There"s a biggish one just ahead of us. I think I can see beaches."
To Ginger, before Algy spoke again, the next ten minutes seemed like eternity.
"There"s a pretty fair beach," said Algy. "I"m going to try to land."
"When the machine b.u.mps the snake will strike."
"All right. When you feel me flatten out you"ll know I"m practically on the carpet. Get the hatch open and get ready to jump for it. There"s nothing else you can do."
The Beaufighter continued to descend. Ginger saw nothing but the snake, but he was conscious of Bertie"s machine close overhead. Once or twice its shadow fell on him.
Suddenly the snake seemed to see it, and its reaction was immediate. Ginger could only suppose that the krait took the plane to be a bird of prey ; at any rate, it moved swiftly towards the tail of the aircraft where it could not be seen. The machine flattened out.
Algy shouted " Jump ! "
But as the snake was no longer within striking distance, Ginger did not feel inclined to risk breaking his neck. Rigid, he sat where he was. He felt the wheels touch, and hoped that the tail-down position of the machine would cause the snake to slide farther away. What happened next he really did not know. The machine swerved suddenly. There was a tearing, rending crash as it collided violently with something.
Ginger had no recollection of getting out of the machine ; but he must have done so because he found himself standing on a sandy beach, staring with utter dismay at the crumpled remains of the Beaufighter. Algy, wild-eyed, scrambled from the wreckage and staggered towards him.
"Did the snake bite you ? " asked Ginger in all seriousness. He was still slightly bewildered by the calamity.
"I don"t know," snarled Algy. "If it did I didn"t feel it. Look at the machine."
"I"m looking at it," answered Ginger calmly. At that moment he was conscious of only one sensation, and that was thankfulness that he had at least escaped from the snake. He was prepared to die in the war-but not from snakebite.
"We"re in a mess," announced Algy.
"I"d already realized it," returned Ginger, looking up at Bertie"s machine, now circling overhead in an almost vertical bank. Ginger waved. " Bertie will at least be able to tell Biggles what happened," he observed.
With his hands in his pockets Algy stood and stared at the wreck. He still looked as if he couldn"t believe it. He was still staring when Bertie zoomed, and sped away in the direction of the base.
"Best thing he can do," muttered Algy. "There was nothing he could do by remaining here."
"Have you any idea of where we are ? " asked Ginger.