Biggles In Borneo Part 3

"By Jove ! " cried the stranger. "That was a stout effort. Are you hurt ? "

"No, thanks," replied Ginger, rubbing his bruises. "Pleased to meet you. My name's HebblethwaiteGinger for short. I dropped in to see if you needed help."

"We need plenty," was the answer. "We're in a bit of a mess. I'm Jackson, late of the British Consulate at Manila. I'm all right, but the two fellows with me-they're Americans-are in a bad way. The j.a.ps are hot on our trail, too."

Ginger nodded. "That's about how we worked it out, so we decided to do something about it."

Picking up the equipment, the two men made their way to the river, where Ginger made the acquaintance of the two Americans, named Gray and Flannagan, who turned out to be the pilot and gunner of a United States naval aircraft. As Jackson had said, they were [image]

both in a bad way-not, as Ginger had supposed, from fever or gunshot wounds, but from flogging by the j.a.panese. To say that Ginger was horrified would be to put it mildly. The medicine chest was brought into use, and as soon as they had been made fairly comfortable Ginger was told the facts. They were brief.

Jackson, the Britisher, had been at Manila when the town had been captured by the j.a.panese. He had tried to escape in a pearling lugger, but had been captured and taken with other prisoners to the island of Mindanao. There he had met the two American airmen, who had been shot down on a reconnaissance flight. They had tried to escape, and in doing so had struck a j.a.panese soldier. For this, on being recaptured, they had been brutally flogged-treatment that drove them to a frenzy and made them all the more determined to get away. This, with the help of Jackson, they had been able to do. They had taken a sailing-boat with the object of eventually reaching Australia. They had been pursued, and would have been caught by a motor-boat had not a British aircraft unexpectedly appeared out of the blue and sunk the j.a.p.

Ginger grinned. "That was us," he remarked vaguely.

The rest was much as he had supposed. The three fugitives had got to Borneo. Without food or water, they had been compelled to come ash.o.r.e in the hope of obtaining both.

They were again discovered, so had taken to the jungle. j.a.panese soldiers, guided by a seaplane, were following them. The seaplane had fired at them repeatedly and sunk their boat, with the result that they were stranded, exhausted, without food, with the j.a.panese behind them, and the unknown jungle, and possibly head-hunters, in front of them.

Their joy when Ginger informed them that a British unit was still operating from the heart of Borneo, and that a relief party was on the way to pick them up, made any risks he had taken well worth while.

"What we've got to do is dodge the j.a.ps until the rescue party arrives," he concluded. "

Haven't you fellows any weapons ? "

"Not one," answered Jackson. "What's our best plan do you think ? We can't do much in the way of marching, I'm afraid."

"I think we'd better stay where we are," replied Ginger after considering the situation. "

We couldn't get through the jungle, and we should probably get lost if we tried. The best thing is to stay by the river where we can be seen from the air. Biggles-that's my C.O.

- knows where we are, and will guide the relief party to the spot. It seems to be a case of who will get here first -the relief party or the j.a.ps."

CHAPTER V.

WAR IN THE JUNGLE.

As it happened, the j.a.panese arrived first. Ginger heard them before he saw them. He had pa.s.sed a miserable, restless night, tormented by myriads of minute sand-flies and mosquitoes against which there was no protection. He spent most of the night scratching himself, and listening to the strange noises that came out of the jungle.

Just before dawn silence fell, and in the distance he heard what he thought was a human shout. He was not quite sure of this, realizing that it might be one of the monkeys that swarmed in the trees. Presently the sound came again, nearer, from the lower reaches of the river. The other three were sleeping the sleep of exhaustion, oblivious to mosquitoes and everything else, this being due in large measure to the fact they had eaten their first real meal for over a fortnight. He was loath to awaken them, so he walked down the river as far as the sand-bar would permit, and then climbed a tree that commanded a view of the long straight reach of water lying beyond. One glance and his fears were realized.

Coming up the river were five canoes. The paddlers were natives, but the men packed in them were j.a.panese soldiers. They were examining the banks of the river as they came, presumably for signs of the fugitives who, as their boat had not been pa.s.sed, must be somewhere ahead of them. , Ginger realized that when they came to the spot where the boat lay half submerged they would know at once that the three white men were not far away. Unfortunately there was no way of concealing or destroying the boat.

Not a little worried, Ginger returned to the sleeping men, narrowly avoiding stepping on a hooded cobra that lay curled up on the sand. It reared, hissing. Ginger side-stepped and ran for his life. Actually, at the moment he was more concerned with the approaching j.a.panese than with the beasts of the jungle. He woke Jackson first, he being the fittest of the three.

"The j.a.ps are coming up the river in canoes," he informed him.

Jackson scrambled to his feet. "I was afraid of that." He pointed to the boat. "Even if we hide they'll see that, land, and come after us."

"I know, and I don't see what we can do about it," answered Ginger. "There's just a chance that we may find a hiding-place in the jungle."

"We shall be smothered with leeches," warned Jackson.

"That's better than being smothered with bullet-holes," Ginger pointed out grimly.

As it happened they were saved from this desperate resort, for while they were getting the two Americans to their feet there came the sound for which Ginger had secretly been hoping. It was the roar of aircraft. A minute later, not one but three Beaufighters appeared. By this time Ginger had flung some fairly dry reeds in a heap and set fire to them, so that a column of smoke rose upwards. This was in order to let Biggles know they were still in the same place. He had no means of sending a message, so he could not tell Biggles about the j.a.panese ; he could only hope that he would see them, and felt pretty sure that he would.

Thereafter things happened quickly, and with a good deal of noise. Ginger did not witness the destruction of the canoes, but he saw the Beaufighters diving, and heard the roar of their guns. Pandemonium broke loose in the jungle. Parrots screamed and monkeys howled.

Later, Ginger learned that three of the canoes had been sunk in midstream ; the other two had managed to reach the bank, and the occupants had taken cover under the trees.

Presently Biggles's Beaufighter, recognisable by its single red band, came cruising low up the river. As it pa.s.sed over the sand-bar a small object fell from it. It turned out to be a cigarette tin. In it was a sc.r.a.p of paper on which had been pencilled the message : "

Stand fast. Rex is near you. Taffy." Ginger realized that Taffy had taken his place in the gun-turret of Biggles's machine.

Having dropped the message, the Beaufighter turned and rejoined the other two machines that were now raking the edge of the forest with their guns.

"The relief party is near us," Ginger told his companions.

"So are some of the j.a.ps," answered Jackson grimly. "Look." He pointed.

Following the line of his finger, Ginger saw j.a.panese soldiers emerging from the jungle at the water's edge.

They did not move openly, but crouching low, advanced independently in short rushes.

"They're not concerned about us," opined Ginger. "In fact they don't even know we're here. The Beau-fighters are shooting them up, and they're trying to get away. But if they come along here and spot us we shall be in a mess."

"We'd better start retiring into the forest," declared Jackson.

"Just a minute," replied Ginger.

He had noticed a curious thing. The leading j.a.panese soldier had stumbled, and then fallen flat on his face. He lay where he had fallen, his limbs twitching. Another did the same thing.

"What the deuce is happening ? " muttered Ginger.

The remaining j.a.panese were backing away from the forest. Some of them began shooting into the trees. There was no answering fire, yet they continued to fall. There was something so uncanny about it that Ginger's skin turned to goose-flesh.

"I've got it ! " cried Jackson. "Blowpipes ! Your friends the Punans are in the jungle shooting poisoned darts into them. The j.a.ps can't even see them."

"How horrible," returned Ginger-and he meant it. For the first time he realized the futility of trying to fight the jungle men who could deal death silently, unseen. For all their modern weapons the j.a.panese were powerless. The survivors fell into a panic.

Some, flinging away their equipment, jumped into the river and tried to swim across.

"Crocodile meat," murmured Jackson. "These rivers are full of the brutes."

Ginger shuddered. He was glad he had not fallen into the river when he landed by parachute. He had forgotten that there were such things as crocodiles.

While he was still staring at ihe unpleasant scene, Rex Larrymore came running out of the undergrowth. His clothes were torn, and he was mud up to the waist.

"So there you are," he observed cheerfully. "I had a bit of a job to find you."

"How did you know I was here ? " asked Ginger. " Biggles dropped us a message and told us."

"I see."

" Suba and his lads are busy," remarked Rex. "So I notice," answered Ginger.

"You've nothing more to worry about," went on Rex. "As they say in official circles, our troops have the situation in hand."

As Ginger introduced Rex to his companions, the Beaufighters roared low overhead and disappeared in the direction of the base. Presently Suba appeared, followed by several of his warriors. They nearly all carried burdens that made Ginger back away in horror. They were j.a.panese heads.

"Must they do that ? " gasped Ginger, feeling sick.

"Take no notice," said Rex quietly. "Heads are merely souvenirs to them. Our chaps collect German helmets-there really isn't very much difference. If you protest you may upset Suba."

Ginger gulped and said no more. Rex held a consultation with the chief, as a result of which two rough portable chairs were constructed for the transport of the injured Americans, who were in no condition to face the long march back to camp.

Then began the return trip through the jungle. It was unmarked by incident, except that at every halt they made a smoke fire to show Biggles where they were, whereupon Beaufighters dropped parcels of food and cans of water.

Two days later, weary and dirty, covered with the little white blisters raised by mosquitoes, the party arrived back at Lucky Strike camp, to find that all possible preparations for their comfort had been made. After they had bathed, and the Americans had had their backs properly dressed, the fugitives told their story with more detail.

Of their own adventures they had little to say. They were too full of what was happening at Cotabato, on the island of Mindanao, where the white prisoners of several nationalities had been concentrated by the j.a.panese. There were two women among them. Conditions had been bad, but bearable, until there had arrived from j.a.pan to take command a brutal commandant named Yashnowada. The Americans trembled with impotent fury when they spoke of him and his barbaric behaviour towards his helpless prisoners. It was this man who had caused them to be flogged. Several white soldiers-British, American and Dutch-had died under such flogging.

"The shocking part of it was we could do nothing," muttered Bill Gray, burying his face in his hands as though to shut out the memory of the horrors he had seen. "G.o.d help you if you ever fall into the hands of that yellow devil."

"Just who is this man ? " asked Biggles in a hard voice.

"I don't know much about him," answered Pat Flannagan, who spoke with an Irish-American accent. "He seems to be the commandant of the occupied countries. Following the German method, his object appears to be to cow everybody, natives as well as whites, by sheer terrorism. Cotabato, where he has his headquarters, is a living h.e.l.l. I nearly go mad when I think of white women in that place."

Biggles's face was pale. "Are there ,many troops at this place Cotabato ? "

Jackson answered. "Not many. Yashnowada is more of a glorified policeman-on the lines of the German Gestapo. Most of the front-line troops have been shifted nearer to the fighting-Burma in the north, and the Australian islands in the south. No doubt the same sort of thing is going on in other places. It seems terrible that we can't do anything about it. How do you come to be here, anyway ? "

Biggles explained the purpose of his squadron, and how, with the help of Rex Larrymore, it had come to Borneo. "How many white prisoners do you reckon there are at Cotabato ?

" he inquired.

"There were between forty and fifty when we left. Some of them are civilians, mostly British, Australian and Dutch traders. The others are nearly all American airmen who have been shot down. Barton is there. There are also some British natives, Indians and so on."

Biggles started. "Do you mean the American General Barton ? "

"Yeah."

"But I heard he had escaped."

"He did,- but the j.a.ps ran him down on one of the smaller islands. That swine Yashnowada has beaten him up to try to make him say what he knows about military plans."

There was a movement among the a.s.sembled officers but none of them spoke.

"This is all very disturbing," said Biggles in a low voice. "I almost wish you fellows hadn't told me about this. I shan't sleep at night for thinking about it. I know what war is like against the n.a.z.is, and I've had some experience of trouble with plain unvarnished savages from whom one doesn't expect anything but murder ; but these semi-civilized j.a.panese seem to be the worst of the lot. Well, Jackson, and you, Gray and Flannagan, I think you'd better get along to Australia. I'll have you flown down right away. I have a machine waiting to go."

"I don't want to go to Australia," growled Gray. Biggles looked surprised. "You don't want to go ? "

"No. I've only one idea now, and that's to slaughter as many of these yellow devils as I can."

"That's all very well, but be practical. You can't fight a war single-handed. Just what have you got in mind ? " asked Biggles.

"You can leave me here."

" Why ? What can you do here ? "

"Help you. To start with, I'm a pilot. I know these seas and the coasts as well as I know the palm of my hand. I was stationed at Manila for a long time, and I've served on an aircraft carrier cruising among the islands. Flannagan was my buddy all the time, so he knows about it as I do."

" Sure I That's right," agreed Flannagan.

"I know my way about a bit, too," put in Jackson. "I've served in the Diplomatic Service in the Dutch East Indies for ten years."

"Then you probably know something about Mindanao ? " said Biggles thoughtfully.

Jackson smiled. "I was British Agent in Cotabato for two seasons. I know every inch of it, and the country around."

"Then you must know the people there ? "

"All those worth knowing. You know how it is in these outposts. It's eighteen months since I was there as a free man, but I don't suppose it's changed much, except, of course, that the whites have gone. Why do you ask ? Thinking of making a trip there yourself ? "

Biggles hesitated for a moment before answering. "I couldn't do that with my present equipment."

"There's an aerodrome - or rather, a landing ground."

"You're not suggesting that I land an aircraft. on it ? "

" Well-no."

"I'm afraid the aerodrome is no use to us. Unfortunately I haven't any marine aircraft suitable for landing on the water near the coast. I wonder . . ."

Biggles walked to the door and gazed across the deserted aerodrome. For a minute or two he was silent ; then he came back into the room.

"I'll tell you what," he decided. "Jackson, you go down to Darwin with Angus Mackail in the Liberator and report this business to the Air Officer Commanding. He, no doubt, will consult the American Commanderin-Chief. Apart from the horrible thought of leaving white prisoners in the hands of this devil Yashnowada, the Americans want General Barton back. He's a valuable officer. Angus, you'll see the A.O.C. Tell him we're willing to have a shot at getting these prisoners away, but we should need an amphibian aircraft, one that can land here in the first place, and later, on water. Obviously, we couldn't transport between forty and fifty people in one go, even if we got hold of them, but if we could get them out of the camp it might be possible to bring them over in relays. If there was an important military objective at Cotabato that we could deal with at the same time, the Higher Command would be more likely to fall for the idea."

"There is," put in Jackson quickly. " Cotabato is one of the main ammunition and stores dumps for the proposed j.a.panese attack on Australia."

"Why the d.i.c.kens didn't you say so before ? " demanded Biggles.