"Yes, we"re prepared for that," murmured Algy.
"By the way, sir," put in Ginger, "is it true that there is an ammunition dump here ? We were told there was one. I ask because if there is one here it is likely to be bombed."
"The main j.a.panese dump is here," declared the general. "They"ve been acc.u.mulating stores, oil and ammunition, for months. It"s right here beside us, a couple of hundred yards away, near the waterfront."
"If we could get out we might do a good job by blowing it up."
"You"ve got to get out first, son, and if you can find a way you"re cleverer than I am. You can"t get through wire without cutters."
Algy spoke. "By the way, sir, where are the two ladies, reported to be here ? "
"They"re penned in a house on the hillside. I haven"t seen the place."
"You seem to hear quite a lot about what is going on outside."
"That"s mostly because the Philippino prisoners have friends outside. They know everything that"s going on. Don"t ask me how they know, but they do. It"s probably drum talk. We often hear drums on the hills, where many of the natives have found refuge. Of course, the j.a.ps have tried to round them up, but it"s like looking for a needle in a haystack. The drums were going a little while ago. I fancy there"s something going on now. Take a look at those brown guys over there." The general pointed. "They"re tough little guys at that," he added. "It didn"t need us to teach them how to fight. We only gave them modern weapons, and as you may have heard, they put up a swell show before the islands were captured."
Ginger looked. At first he could see nothing unusual ; then he realized what the general meant. Singly, and in twos and threes, the natives were drifting together until they stood in little groups. The movement was so un.o.btrusive that had it not been pointed out to him Ginger would not have noticed it. One of the natives strolled towards the general.
" Ah-huh ! Here comes the news," murmured General Barton.
The Philippino drifted up, rather than walked directly.
"White men come," he said in a low voice.
The general glanced at Algy. "There you are ! What did I tell you ? "
"Arc you sure he"s not making a mistake ? " asked Ginger.
"These fellows are never wrong."
The Philippino spoke again. "Watch for message from the sky."
That must be aircraft," said Ginger excitedly.
Again the native spoke. "Everyone be ready. All prisoner come this side. Dump, she go bang pretty soon." The Philippino drifted away towards the far side of the compound, and Ginger noticed that there was a general movement in that direction.
" Gosh I This is uncanny," muttered Ginger. "What do you make of it, sir ? "
"I should say something"s going to happen. We"d better do as he says. When I first came to the islands years ago I used to laugh at these native tales-but I know better now."
Ginger was conscious of a strange tenseness in the atmosphere, although there was nothing definite to which this could be attributed. n.o.body did anything unusual. A few men who had been inside the prison came out, that was all, but there was a brittle, attentive quality in the moonlit silence. It was like the silence that falls before a thunderstorm.
"We"d better go across." The general walked over to the far side of the compound and stood near the wire. Algy and Ginger went with him.
Said Ginger to Algy, "Do you think Biggles could be behind this ? "
"I don"t see how he could be," replied Algy. "It couldn"t be on account of us, surely, because I can"t imagine how he could know we are here."
"He"s a wizard at finding things out, all the same," returned Ginger. Then he gripped Algy"s arm. "Hark!"
From somewhere in the intangible darkness overhead, or nearly overhead, had come a faint pop.
"If that wasn"t an engine misfiring I"ll cat my boots," promised Ginger.
"Sounded like it," agreed Algy.
At that moment the star-sh.e.l.l burst.
It burst almost immediately overhead-although burst might not be the exact word.
There was no sound. A light appeared in the sky, a white glowing ball of incandescent flame from which drifted a faint trail of smoke. The light gleamed faintly on the rim of a parachute from which it was suspended.
"Parachute flare," muttered Ginger, blinking in the brilliant, almost blinding radiance.
Everything on the ground was revealed as clearly as though the sun had suddenly taken the place of the moon. Within the compound everyone stood still, staring upwards.
"Now what ? " murmured Algy.
Even as he spoke the silence that had followed the appearance of the flare was shattered by the roar of aero engines. And thereafter so many things happened, and happened so fast, that Ginger was for a few moments completely bewildered.
The j.a.panese sentries shouted. Whistles blew. A bell, evidently used as an air-raid warning, clanged. Above all these sounds now came one which, once heard, is never forgotten. It was the crescendo scream of falling bombs.
"Hold your hat, General ! Here they come ! " shouted Algy.
"By thunder ! They"re coming close, too," gasped Ginger, as he flung himself flat.
The stick of bombs burst in swift succession. The ground rocked. Flames leaped.
Splinters flew. As the roar of the explosions died away, more bombs could be heard coming ; and with the sound came another, one which puzzled Ginger not a little. It was the howl of low-flying aircraft travelling at high speed. He couldn"t understand it. The bombing was being done from a low alt.i.tude, that was obvious, but not so low as the approaching machines, which, in any case, were coming in from a different direction.
" Beaufighters ! " shouted Algy. "I know the song they sing!"
Then more bombs burst. Others were screaming down. The roar of the low-flying planes became a terrific sensation rather than a sound. A dark shape, like the shadow of death itself, swooped low, and tore across the compound with more noise than seemed possible. Something struck the ground with a crash. Ginger winced and, clenching his teeth, waited for the expected explosion. Not unnaturally he thought it was a bomb.
Then someone shouted. He saw Algy jump up and run towards the middle of the compound, saw him stoop and lift what looked like a sack. Most of the white men ran towards him. By the time Ginger reached the spot he was emptying a bag. Out tumbled revolvers, an axe and two pairs of wire-cutters. Out, too, fell a large yellow envelope.
Algy ripped it open and took out a single sheet of paper. He read the message aloud. It did not take long : "Cut your way out and take the road up the hill. B."
Who knows the road up the hill ? " shouted Algy at the top of his voice.
It was necessary to shout in order to be heard, for by this time the noise baffled description. There seemed to be several machines in the air. Machine-guns were hammering, cannon-sh.e.l.ls bursting, and tracer bullets flying in all directions. Anti-aircraft guns were firing, while all around fires were blazing.
Several voices answered Algy"s inquiry, but before he could make top or tail of the clamour-for by this time everyone was in a state of high excitement-there came an explosion that knocked everyone flat.
"It"s the dump I" shouted the general. "They"ve got the dump."
Algy jumped up. "All white men grab a weapon and follow me ! " he shouted. "Keep your heads, and stay together."
With a pair of wire-cutters in one hand and a revolver in the other, Algy ran to the wire.
A j.a.panese sentry came running. Several shots were fired at him and he fell. He seemed to be the only one. Ginger supposed vaguely that the others had either taken cover or had gone to the fires. He was not surprised that no one appeared to be concerned about the prisoners, for the town was now in a state of complete pandemonium.
"Ginger, you stick with me ! " shouted Algy, as his cutters bit into the wire. "And you, General," he added.
In three minutes a gap had been cut through the wire.
Ginger turned to face the crowd of people behind him. "Keep calm ! " he roared. "Keep together. Someone lead the way up the hill."
Actually the words did not come as smoothly as that, because the dump was on fire and the earth shook with sporadic explosions. Small arms ammunition was crackling like a thousand castanets.
A tall Australian pushed his way to the front. "I know the hill. I"ll lead the way," he offered.
"Lead on," said Algy. "Don"t stop for anything."
At this juncture apparently someone noticed that the prisoners were outside the compound. Several j.a.panese soldiers "appeared, not an organized body, but a number of individuals. In fact, n.o.body seemed to be in charge of anything. Men could be seen running to and from the many fires.
Ginger, Algy and General Barton followed the Australian at the head of a straggling column. Just where they were going, beyond the obvious fact that they were mounting a [image]
hill, Ginger did not know. The whole thing was taking the form of a distorted nightmare.
Shots were being fired. He saw some of the j.a.panese fall. Others ran, shouting, presumably for a.s.sistance.
At first, when the refugees had started to climb the hill, there had been houses on either side, but these now gave way to open country and jungle. There was no more bombing, and the drone of aircraft had stopped, but the dump was still grumbling, sometimes breaking into violent explosions. Fires still blazed, and the sky was crimson with the glare.
Presently Ginger saw a man sitting on a large boulder beside the road. It was a white man. He was smoking a cigarette. The lurid glare glinted on an eyegla.s.s. The man got up.
He spoke.
"I say, is that you, Ginger, old boy ? "
" Bertie ! " shouted Ginger, laughing. "What do you think you"re doing ? "
"Been watching the fireworks. Jolly good show-what ? " answered Bertie. "I say," he went on, "that"s a pretty wild-looking mob you"ve picked up-if you see what I mean ?
Quite a party-quite a party. By the way, have you seen Jackson, or Rex, or our cannibal comrade, Suba ? "
By this time Algy had pushed to the front, and by holding up his arms managed to stop the procession.
"No, we haven"t seen anyone," he said. "Where is Jackson supposed to be ? "
"He"s gone to get his girl-at least, that"s what the silly a.s.s told me. Pretty formidable proposition, should say-what ? "
"Where"s Biggles ? "
"He"s directing- the jolly old operation. I was told to stay here until you came and then take you to the boat."
"Then what the d.i.c.kens are we standing here talking for ? "
"No hurry, old boy, no hurry-we"re not after a beastly fox, you know."
"What am I supposed to do with all these people ? "
Bertie considered them through his eyegla.s.s. "Dashed if I know, laddie. Pretty big handful-what ? Shady-looking lot of coves, too. Perhaps Biggles will work it out. It"s time he was here. He said he"d be along. Rex should be here, too. He went for a stroll in the woods with Suba and a drum. I like this drum stuff. I wish I could do it. Ah 1 Who do I see coming ? The big white chief himself, no less."
Ginger turned, and looking down the road, saw Biggles coming up the hill. Close behind him was Jackson and two white women. They were all running.
Biggles arrived first. His face was streaked with dust and perspiration. "Glad you could make it," he panted. "No time to talk now. The j.a.ps are beginning to get over the shock. I saw some of them remustering. Has Rex arrived yet ? "
"Here he comes now, with Suba," said Ginger, as he saw them emerge from the jungle and hurry towards the party.
"Good. Everyone fall in behind me and try to keep some sort of order."
They all trooped along the road.
Ginger"s head was still in a whirl. He tried to work out what Biggles intended doing with so many refugees, but he gave it up. Presently Biggles took a side turning, a lane that sloped steeply towards a narrow arm of the sea, which could be seen at no great distance. In ten minutes they had reached what turned out to be the estuary of a small river, flanked by dismal-looking mangroves, and there Biggles called a halt.
"Now," he said, "let us try to sort things out. Queer things happen in war, but this time we have certainly picked up some strange companions. How many people are there in your party, Algy ? "
"I didn"t count them, but I should say getting on for forty."
"That"s about the number Jackson reckoned. Somehow we"ve got to get them away.
Naturally, I couldn"t just rescue you and Ginger and leave the others there. We"ve little time for introductions now, but I"d like to meet the general."
General Barton came forward.
"Pleased to meet you, sir," said Biggles. "You understand we can"t linger here talking, because the j.a.ps will be on our trail by now ? "
The general agreed. "Go right ahead-don"t mind me."
"Jackson, I"ll leave you to take care of the ladies."
"I"m looking after them," answered Jackson.
Biggles then addressed the crowd. "Listen to me, everyone," he called. "If some of you do not speak English, you must get the others to translate. I"m trying to get you away, so I want you to do exactly as you are told. In the mangrove swamp which you can see I have an aircraft on the water. It won"t hold you all, so whit I propose to do is this. I have been able to get hold of a small pearling lugger, the property of a local friend of Mr.
Jackson"s. Those who want to leave Mindanao will get in the lugger in an orderly manner and sit down. I shall take it in tow behind the aircraft to an island which I have selected, one that we should be able to reach before daylight. More than that I can"t do for the present, because as soon as it is light enemy planes will be in the sky looking for us.
When I cast you off at the island you must keep hidden until nightfall, when I hope to return and transport you all to safer quarters. Hurry along now, but keep in order. There is no need for panic."
Biggles turned and walked along a narrow path that followed the sh.o.r.e. It ended in the mangrove swamp, where it became necessary to climb over the roots of trees to the amphibian, which was on the seaward side. Angus Mackail was standing by it. Beside the aircraft rode the lugger to which Biggles had referred.
Ginger spoke to Biggles. "Aren"t you taking a chance, towing a load like this ? "
"I don"t think so," answered Biggles. "I don"t see why a flying-boat shouldn"t tow a surface craft. The strain will be getting on the move ; after that it should be easy. I couldn"t do it if a sea was running, of course, but it happens to be dead calm."
Biggles stood and sorted out the refugees as they came along in single file, directing them into the lugger, or the amphibian, as he decided. First, the two white women were pa.s.sed along to Angus, who saw them into the machine. General Barton, Rex, Jackson and Suba went next. Algy, Ginger and two men who had been wounded - one of them an elderly Chinese - made up the load. "Everyone else in the boat," called Biggles.