38 Another Job For Biggles Read online

  One, simply as a drug, like opium, cocaine or hashish, by people who are crazy enough to go in for that form of enjoyment. Two, by crooks who are able to stupefy a selected victim by merely offering him a cigarette. The cigarette I have here was obtained by one of our plain-clothes men posing as a millionaire in a London night club. The fellow who offered it was arrested. He protested complete ignorance as to the nature of the cigarette, asserting that it must have been in a packet which he had just bought. We had no case against him and we had to let him go. To have put him in court would merely have given the stuff undesirable publicity, and warned the vendors of it that we knew what was going on. It's no earthly use arresting these odd men selling the stuff. They're only the small fry. Others would soon take their places. We've got to get, literally, to the root of the thing. By which I mean we've not only got to find the man or the syndicate that is smuggling the stuff into the country; we've got to find out where he's getting it from. The stuff is so strong that only a

  page 24

  minute quantity would be required to treat thousands of cigarettes, and I doubt if the Excise officers could prevent its importation. So really, the only way to kill the racket is to destroy the stuff at its source. Of course, it would be something if we could lay our hands on the big man behind the graft. That he is a big man we may be sure, for his profits must have been enormous. You see, what is going on here, is also going on in America and on the Continent. In fact, it's the most serious menace we've ever had to face, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that if it got a big hold it might well put western civilisation off the map. As you know, it's no use asking people to refrain from using a drug once they're in its grip. They're physically unable to do so."

  "In what form is this stuff put into cigarettes?" inquired Biggles.

  "It seems that a small quantity of tobacco is steeped in alcohol in which the gum has been dissolved. This is then dried, mixed with ordinary tobacco and made up into cigarettes."

  "Has it any taste?"

  "It gives a cigarette a slight aromatic flavour, hardly noticeable and rather pleasant than otherwise. We reckon that one grain would be sufficient to treat a hundred cigarettes."

  "What about the tobacco used? I mean, what sort of leaf is it ?—

  Virginian? Turkish? Egyptian? Empire? or what?"

  " That line of investigation will get you nowhere," asserted the Air Commodore sadly. "We've tried it. All types are used. Indeed, there is reason to believe

  page 25

  that the dope pedlars get their tobacco by breaking up popular brands of cigarettes. ·The contents of one ordinary cigarette, doped, could be mixed with the contents of hundreds of others; and even then a few draws would be sufficient to rob the smoker of his normal faculties."

  "Hm." Biggles thought for a moment. "If it is a fact that gurra occurs only in one place, in Arabia, it shouldn't be a difficult matter to cut off the supply of gum at its source."

  The Air Commodore nodded. " Just so. That's where I thought you might come in."

  "You mean—we might fly out and destroy the whole growth? "

  "Yes. It burns readily."

  " How much is there?"

  "According to the Doctor perhaps three acres, sometimes sparse and sometimes thick." The Air Commodore looked at Biggles seriously. "Don't get the idea that the destruction of the stuff in its original habitat is going to be a simple matter. There are several factors to consider, each one not pretty to look at. First, there's the country itself. If anything went wrong, you'd have no hope of getting out alive, not even if you took as much water as you could carry. A white man couldn't live in that furnace without special preparations. Then again, fresh Arabs may have arrived there, and if you fall into their hands they would certainly kill you."

  Bertie stepped into the conversation. "How about dropping a few incendiaries into the beastly stuff—if you see what I mean? No need to land at all that I can see."

  page 26

  "There's a snag about that," the Air Commodore pointed out. "What about the Arabs already there? They may still be alive. They're practically helpless, or they were when Doctor Darnley was on the spot, and you'd burn them up too. That isn't to be contemplated, and the fact that they're likely to die anyway makes no difference. The effect of such an act, if it became known, would send the whole Arab world up in arms."

  "I didn't think of that," murmured Bertie. Biggles resumed. "What I can't understand is how the stuff came to be commercialised in the first place.

  Was Doctor Darnley the only white man in his expedition?"

  "He was."

  "Somebody must have talked. The Doctor can be ruled out, so it must have been one of his Arabs."

  "So it would seem. But the Doctor assures me that he told his men nothing about the stuff, fearing they might start playing with it and put them all in the same fix as the miserable people already there."

  "All the same, unless we are to suppose that gurra was discovered in two places almost simultaneously, which isn't likely, some member of his party must have been more wide-awake than the Doctor supposed. I am assuming that this wadi is beyond the normal range of coastal Arabs, or a casual white traveller."

  "Quite correct," concurred the Air Commodore. "Certainly no white man had ever seen the wadi, or been within a hundred miles of it. And as far as the Arabs were concerned the Doctor had with him only three men who had ever made contact with outside

  page 27

  civilisation. The coastal Arabs who started with him refused absolutely to go beyond the country that they knew and that ended far short of the wadi. That was why, as I told you, the Doctor had to change his camel men from time to time. No tribe dared go beyond its normal boundary, although it might happen occasionally in a raid."

  "Did these three coastal Arabs stay with the Doctor throughout the trip?"

  "Yes. He picked them up at Aden. They had been with him on a previous expedition."

  "One of these men must have spotted more than the Doctor imagined,"

  declared Biggles. "He might have discovered the gum on his own account and put· some in his bag to enjoy when he got home. Later, he might have talked about it. I know this is surmise, but I can't imagine a simple camel man having the wit to realise the possibilities of the stuff outside his own amusement."

  The Air Commodore rubbed his chin. "Anyway, the racket is now organised on such a scale that we can assume that behind it is no ordinary, small-time dope pedlar."

  "I take it that Doctor Darnley can supply the exact position of the wadi in which the plant grows?"

  " Oh yes. You may be sure I had a long talk with him. He is very upset because he feels that he is largely responsible for what has happened.

  But, as he pointed out, we've no proof positive that the plant doesn't grow somewhere else. If it does, no doubt it demands exactly the same conditions—a sandy soil, practically no water, and a baking summer heat.

  page 28

  But there, one feels that if the plant did grow someewhere else, in upper Egypt, the Sudan, or Abyssinia, for instance, the natives would have discovered the dope long ago, in which case it would certainly have been brought to our notice. All the same, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that certain aromatic trees and shrubs found in Arabia, such as frankincense, myrrh, balm of Gilead, and so on, are also to be found on the other side of the Red Sea; but they are not generally of good quality, which suggests that they were transplanted there in the first place."

  Biggles lit another cigarette. "Assuming that the Dope King got his gurra from the wadi, how did he get the stuff home? Did he harvest a crop, so to speak, and bring it home like a load of hay? "

  " I shouldn't think so," returned Raymond. "That wouldn't be necessary.

  He'd only need the gum, and that could have been brought home in one small bag."

  "Could he get the gum without the plant?" inquired Biggles. " I'm a bit out of my depth in this sort of thing."

  "I imagine he'd employ one of th
e primitive, but stIll quite effective, methods of collecting the gum," explamed the Air Commodore. "Gum-collecting has been an industry in the Middle East for thousands of years—not gurra, though, as far as we know. But many other shrubs yield aromatic gum which is used mostly in perfume making—opoponax, for instance which is the base of many perfumes. If the plant is large enough, as in the case of frankincense, an incision is made in the bark, and the tears of rosin—as they

  page 29

  call them—drip from the cut. With smaller plants, one way is to drive goats through the stuff, when the gum sticks to their beards. A more modern way is to use a kind of rake with a double row of leather straps.

  This is pulled through the shrubs and the gum sticks to the straps."

  "Very interesting," murmurmed Biggles. "And you think that if the stuff could be destroyed in its natural home, the supply of gurra would dry up?"

  "It's a reasonable assumption," averred the Air Commodore. "But that presupposes the supply is coming from the wadi. That, in turn, means that someone has agents there collecting it. If so, they wouldn't be likely to let you destroy it without putting up a stiff opposition."

  "Naturally," said Biggles slowly. "But we could at least try it. We should certainly learn something. Did you by any chance ask the Doctor if an aircraft could get down anywhere near this place? "

  "I did, and he assured me that a landing could be made practically anywhere. The whole country, disregarding two or three wadis, is mostly a flat area of wind—polished gravel, at an altitude of about eight hundred and fifty feet. There happens to be a connspicuous landmark too. Between fifteen and twenty miles to the north there is a mountain system in the form of a horseshoe, with its ends pointing to the southhwest. If you follow the westerly end and continue for about ten miles, you will come to the Wadi al Arwat, which is the Arab name for the wadi in which we are interested."

  Biggles smiled. "I see you have all the gen handy."

  page 30

  "I was hoping' you'd go," confessed the Air Commmodore, "although in view of the nature of the thing, I had no intention of sending you if you thought it too risky. You realise that a crack-up, even if you didn't hurt yourself, would end your career in a way that I for one would deplore."

  "I could minimise that risk by taking two machines, each capable of seating two or ,three passengers," suggested Biggles. "Only one machine would land. The other would stay in the air as a relief in case of accidents."

  "That's an idea," agreed the Air Commodore.

  "But I want you to realise that there is no more dangerous territory in the world for a white man. Thirst and hostile Arabs are factors not to be treated lightly."

  "So I have discovered," murmured Biggles drily.

  "Just two more questions," he went on. "I imagine the nearest aerodrome to the wadi is Aden?"

  "Yes, but the Aden Conimand has some outlying emergency landing grounds, although they don't extend far back from the coast. You would probably find it most convenient to operate from Aden."

  "And how far, roughly, is Aden from the wadi? "

  "As a plane flies, not more than a hundred and fifty miles, although by camel, avoiding dunes and wadis, and travelling from water—hole to water—

  hole, it would be more than twice that distance and take at least six weeks to cover."

  "I see. Did you by any chance get the names of these three coastal Arabs who went all the way with Doctor Darnley?"

  page 31

  " Yes, I have them here." The Air Commodore picked up a slip of paper.

  "The most intelligent, his general organiser and interpreter on several expeditions, was Abu bin Hamud. The other two were known as Kuatim and Zahar. All three speak English, more or less. Are you thinking of calling on them? If you are, I can get you photographs of them, and the wadi.

  Darnley brought back a big collection of pictures."

  "I'd like to see them," said Biggles. "It struck me that as I shall be in Aden, if that's their home town when they're not employed, I might have a word with them. If someeone has been to the Wadi al Arwat since the Doctor was there, they may have accompanied the expediition. If they didn't go themselves they may have heard rumours. You know how news travels in such places. Which reminds me; I may need a local contact man myself."

  "I can help you there," offered the Air Commodore.

  "A retired Middle East Political Officer, named Captain Jerry Norman, has made his home in Aden. He speaks all the dialects. He's a good type.

  Every-

  page 32

  one knows him. If you want advice about anything or anybody you couldn't do better than go to ]erry."

  "Thanks," acknowledged Biggles. "But if there are no complications we ought to finish the job and be home in a week to ten days. All you want me to do is to burn these poison plants? "

  "Unless, of course, you can lay your hands on the man who is making a fortune out of the stuff."

  Biggles got up. "That's a taller order but I'll see what can be done about it," he promised. "If that's all for the moment I'll start making arrangements. The sooner the job's done the better."

  "What about Lacey ? Are you going to recall him from leave?"

  Biggles hesitated. "I don't think that's necessary. Three of us ought to be able to manage. You can tell him where we are and what we're doing when he comes back." Biggles broke off and laughed suddenly.

  "What's the joke?" inquired the Air Commodore suspiciously.

  "I was just wondering what things are coming to, when it becomes necessary to send a policeman over two thousand miles to light a bonfire," explained Biggles.

  "Where the Middle East is concerned, a little fire often makes a big blaze before it's put out," reminded the Air Commodore earnestly. "Be careful how you strike your matches."

  "I'll keep an extinguisher handy," promised Biggles, as, followed by Bertie and Ginger, he left the room.

  Chapter 3

  A Riddle In The Sands

  FIVE days later, two four-seat Proctor aircraft, single-engined, low-wing cabin monoplanes, on loan from Air Ministry Communication Headquarters, but without service insignia, stood ticking over on the sun-scorched aerodrome at Aden, where Biggles and his party had arrived overnight after an uneventful trip out along the regular air route. Near the machines, in casual conversation but in attitudes that suggested they were waiting for someone—which in fact they were—stood Ginger and Bertie, clad in tropical kit.

  "Here he comes now," observed Ginger, as Biggles appeared, walking briskly from the direction of the administrative buildings.

  "Sorry to keep you waiting, but I've been busy," apologised Biggles, as he joined the others. "I thought it would be easy to find these three Arabs of Doctor Darnley's, but there's nothing doing. Appparently no one has seen them for a long time. Abu bin Hamud put in a brief appearance some months

  page 34

  ago but the other two seem to have completely disappeared. Their camels have gone, so it's supposed they're out on another expedition—either that, or they've got a job transporting dates to the coast. I dashed along to see Jerry Norman, the chap the Air Commodore told us about, thinking he might be able to help. I found him at the Club. Nice, amiable chap." Biggles smiled. "That's why I'm late. He knows the three men because it was he who engaged them when he was helping Darnley to organise his show; but he has no idea of where they are now. However, he's promised to make enquiries while we're away. Of course, we may not need these men; on the other hand, they might be able to tell us something. All right. Let's get off this blistering dirt-track. You know the plan. I shall land with Ginger and set fire to the stuff. You, Bertie, will circle and keep an eye on us unless I signal you to come down. We'll get the job done as fast as we can. Let's get off."

  In a few minutes both machines were in the air, climbing for altitude on a course that was roughly north-east.

  Ginger, who had had experience of desert flying, did not expect to enjoy the trip. Nor did he. The sun beat down w
ith relentless force and a blinding glare made him glad that he'd brought dark goggles. At first, the territory below was more or less under cultivation, but this soon gave way to wide areas of wilderness, with the herbage round water-holes and groups of palms standing like islands in the surrounding desolation.

  These became fewer, until at last the

  page 35

  scene became a colourless expanse of naked earth, sterile except for an occasional growth of camel-thorn or acacia. In half an hour, to the north, a long glittering yellow line marked the southern extremity of the Great Sands. Above it the overheated air flowed in a quivering, transparent stream. Overhead, a sky of steely blue was reflected in every depression on the ground, so that a hollow sometimes appeared as a lake of pale blue shadows. One looked in vain for a touch of green.

  As time passed the terrain became ever more hopeless in its awful loneliness and barren desolation, and Ginger found himself admiring the courage of Docctor Darnley and those few white men who had faced its blazing challenge. For the most part the ground appeared to be flat or slightly undulating, with weird, distorted shadows, marking the configuration of the large dunes. All was as lifeless as the moon. Still, Ginger was in no way disappointed or surprised. What he could see was what he had expected to see. He had seen deserts before, and most deserts are alike in their weary monotony. He was only thankful they were covering this one the easy way.

  The machine roared on, thrusting the thin, sun-drenched air behind it, often bumping unpleasantly as it encountered up-currents and 'sinkers'

  caused by the convulsions of sun-lashed air and sand.

  Fifty yards to the left, Bertie in the reserve machine drove a similar uneasy course.

  It seemed a long time, although actually it was less than two hours, before Biggles touched Ginger on the knee and pointed ahead, slightly to the north. Ginger

  page 36

  knew what he meant. Thrust up for perhaps a thousand feet from the sand was a curving system of hills that could, with a little imagination, be likened to the shape of a horse-shoe.