Part 10 (1/2)
”Dunno,” replied Biggles laconically as the keel grated gently on the shelving beach. He climbed out of his seat and slipped down into the shallow water. The door in the hull opened, and Smyth and their pa.s.senger stepped out.
”That outlet-pipe clogged again, sir, I reckon,” observed Smyth.
Biggles nodded. ”I think so,” he said. ”It's nothing very serious, anyway, but I thought it was safer to try and put it right here rather than risk the next fifty miles or so of open sea to the mainland.” The last sentence he addressed to his pa.s.senger, who had lighted a cigar and was surveying the unpromising coast-line of the island with disgust.
”Quite right,” was the quick reply; ”safety first. I suppose you will soon be able to put things right?”
”Oh, yes, I think so,” replied Biggles casually. ”We'll get to work on her as soon as we can, and this time we'll make sure we clear the outlet thoroughly-it seems as if there's some sediment in one of the tanks.”
”I hope it's nothing very serious,” observed the other. ”We might have to wait here for a long time before we were picked up; after all, we can't drain the tanks.”
”We always carry a good stock of provisions, so I don't think we need worry on that score.”
”Maybe not, but you will please remember that my mission is an urgent one, so I trust you will lose no time in clearing out the obstruction.”
”Quite,” replied Biggles vaguely.
But the sun was sinking like a ball of fire in the west before Biggles was sure that no foreign matter remained to obstruct the flow of petrol.
”It will be dark in five minutes, so I am afraid it isn't worth taking a chance to get to Lingeh tonight,” said Biggles in a tone of disappointment. ”It's only a small place and we might easily miss it. I suggest we make ourselves as comfortable as we can for the night, and push on in the morning. Get some of those cases out of the cabin, Smyth; we shall need some food, anyway. I think that little group of palms a bit lower down will be the best spot for camp.”
So slowly as to be hardly noticeable, the moon lost its brilliancy. The pale flickering fingers of another day felt searchingly in the Eastern sky and shed a grey, mysterious light over the sea and the barren sandy island with its group of stunted palms. The rim of the sun showed above the horizon; a shaft of light fell upon the gently stirring palm-fronds, and upon the rec.u.mbent figure of a man, wrapped in a fur coat, who lay upon the sand.
As the sun's rays reached his eyes, he awoke, yawned, and then sat up, stretching. He glanced around. A faint sound rising and falling on the breeze above the steady beat of the surf upon the sh.o.r.e brought him to his feet in a single bound, as if impelled by an invisible spring. He flashed a glance along the beach and then turned in the direction of the sound, his face working curiously as his eyes picked out a tiny moving speck afar off, a speck that vanished even as he watched it. For a long time he stood staring, long after the sound of the aero-engines had faded into silence.
A cold fury smouldered in his eyes as he turned towards the packing-cases, which remained as they had been placed the previous evening. On the largest, held in place by a stone, lay an envelope, and he reached for it with a slow movement that was deadly in its deliberation. His nostrils quivered as he read the superscription: Ivan Nikitoff, Esq., Tumb Island, Nr. Persia.
With hands that trembled slightly, he tore the envelope open, took out the single sheet of paper that it contained, and read : Dear Ivan, I find I shall not be going your way, after all. Everything you will be likely to require ( except our society) for the next three weeks will be found in the cases. In case the time hangs heavily on your hands, you will find a book in the case marked Number 1, which may afford you some relief.
Yours in haste, JAMES BIGGLESWOR TH.
”The thing that beats me is how you knew about that message he received, calling him to Teheran,” muttered Algy, when, late in the day, the ” Vandal” ran to a standstill near the Bund at Basra, and Biggles had made certain called-for explanations.
”For the simple reason that I sent it,” replied Biggles carelessly. ”At least, it was arranged by me in collaboration with certain people who shall be nameless that he should receive such a message.”
”But, good heavens, surely such a letter would be in a secret code, if it was genuine? ”
”It was-but do you suppose our people don't know the code?”
”But what's going to happen to Ivan?”
”I fixed the whole thing up with Pat. All we did was to shove that paragraph in the paper, end the message in his own code, and hope he'd rise to the bait. Well, he did. It will so happen that a sloop will be pa.s.sing the island in about three weeks, which by a curious coincidence will be just about the time that Pat's business is concluded.”
”You seem to have thought it well out,” observed Algy. ”By the way, what was the name of the book you left him?” he asked curiously.
Biggles paused in the act of taking off his helmet, and a slow smile spread over his face.
”Three Weeks,” he said. ”I hope he'll see the point.”
CHAPTER II.
THE SHEIKH AND THE GREEK.
BIGGLES reflectively sipped an ice-cold cordial outside a restaurant in the Avenue el Fontana in Alexandria.
”There is one thing I should like to do before we leave Alex.,” he told Algy confidentially, ”and that is, find out what sort of a price we are likely to get for our pearls. I seem to remember that Egypt is supposed to be a good market for them. We might do better in Paris, but we should probably get stung badly by the Customs people there, or before we get there. The Italians at Benghazi might even have something to say about them. We should stand a better chance here of disposing of them quietly; anyway, they are a bit of an anxiety and the sooner we turn them into hard cash the better.”
”I agree,” returned Algy promptly. ”There's a jeweller's across the way-why not stroll over? Don't let him see them all or he'll try to beat you down. Show him one first.”
”That's not a bad idea,” replied Biggles, taking a small washleather bag from his breast pocket. He untied the string, inserted his forefinger and thumb and took out one of the two large pink pearls presented to them by Li Chi.
”I shouldn't show him that one,” said Algy quickly. ”Keep the pair together; they will be worth far more as a pair than separate.”
Biggles nodded. ”Yes-” he began, but broke off with an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n as the stone slipped from his fingers, bounced off his shoe, and rolled along the pavement, coming to rest at the feet of a good-looking, immaculately dressed man who sat at a table a little lower down. The owner of the feet stooped quickly, picked it up, and after an appraising glance returned it to its anxious owner with a courteous bow.
”Many thanks,” said Biggles, relieved.
”A pretty toy,” observed the man suavely, speaking with a slight foreign accent, and then, ”It seemed to know where to come,” he added with a significant smile.
Biggles hesitated. ”How do you mean?” he said curiously.
The stranger lifted his palms in the Semitic gesture peculiar to the Middle East. ”I am a buyer of such luxuries,” he said in a low voice. ”If at any time the one I have seen is for disposal I hope I may have the honour of being allowed to acquire it.”
”Sorry, but that one is not for sale,” replied Biggles, suspiciously, ”but if you care to sit down-I have others He tilted the pearls they had recovered from the Kaisiora into his palm. ”How about these?”
The stranger shrugged his shoulders and pursed his lips in a disparaging smile. ”They are merely pearls,” he said softly, ”but-” He broke off with a foreign exclamation and stared at the second pink pearl, which Biggles had placed beside the first. He drew in his breath with a sibilant hiss. ”You have another,” he muttered quickly, raising his eyes to Biggles's face.
The pilot dropped the two pink pearls into the bag and replaced it in his pocket. ”Yes,” he said slowly; ”they'd make a nice pair of ear-rings for a princess. Suppose they were for sale, how much would they be worth?” he asked casually.
”A much larger sum than I have at my disposal here,” admitted the stranger readily. ”I do not buy for myself-” He dropped his voice to a whisper. ”I am an agent for the ill.u.s.trious Sheikh Abd-el-Ahmud, who has the most magnificent collection in Arabia. He must see them to decide a value, and the price will be a fair one, I a.s.sure you; far better than you will get from the bandits of Alexandria or Cairo who call themselves pearl-dealers.”
”Where is the Sheikh?” asked Biggles, becoming interested.
”At his palace in Hejaz-on the east coast of the Red Sea,” replied the other.
”My eye! That settles it; we can't trail all the way down to the Red Sea,” said Biggles decisively.
”But why not? I promise you the difference you will receive in price will more than recompense you .for the trouble. Besides, the Sheikh is famous for his hospitality-”
”Never mind that,” broke in Biggles coldly; ”we're talking about pearls. How far is this place?”
”Five hundred miles, perhaps less, but I have a fast boat.”
”I have an aeroplane, if it comes to that,” observed Biggles, thinking quickly.
The stranger started, and his eyes flashed suddenly. ”An aeroplane,” he repeated slowly.