Part 14 (2/2)

concluded Ginger. 'We must get under cover by dawn, or we may be seen, so get aboard Lucil e and lead the way. I should like to know what goes on at Castil on.'

Castil on.'

They set off up the narrow path.

Chapter 14.

Au Bon Cuisine Could Ginger only have known what was going on at Castil on he would have been surprised. Events had probably moved far beyond his imagination.

When Bertie had fol owed the princess he had done so with a certain amount of trepidation. He had no idea of what was going to happen; he was prepared for anything-except what did happen.

A narrow lane wound a serpentine path between dilapidated houses, over fal en masonry, to the outskirts of the vil age, where a house, larger than most, overlooked a great gash in the rocks that fel away and away, widening as it fel , until at last it dropped into the distant Mediterranean. The girl who had said she was a princess-Bertie only had her word for it-paid no attention to the view. She opened a door from which al paint had long disappeared, and went down two steps into what had evidently been a semi-bas.e.m.e.nt kitchen of considerable size.

'Enter, monsieur monsieur,' she invited.

'Ah! The bon cuisine bon cuisine,' murmured Bertie.

The princess smiled. 'Had you mentioned at first that you had seen the writing on the wal it would have saved you trouble. Now I think I understand.'

'The writing on the wal was not a thing to talk about,' replied Bertie drily.

'But you came here on account of it?'

'Yes.'

'But not real y to seek a princess, my n.o.ble troubadour?'

'Not entirely,' admitted Bertie. 'I was concerned with a knight who had tried to rescue her from the hands of her enemies.'

The princess laughed quietly. 'Are you by any chance the Honourable Lacey?'

Bertie nearly dropped his guitar in astonishment.

'Here, I say, that's a leading question. No, I am not the Honourable Lacey, but he is not far from here.

Mario, I think, has gone to fetch him. Ah here he is.'

Algy, looking slightly bewildered, came down into the kitchen closely fol owed by Mario. 'Bertie!' he cried, 'are you in the party, too? How did you get here so soon?'

'I padded the jol y old hoof most of the way.'

'No-I mean, what brought you here? I saw the girl write on the wal and came straight along, yet you are here as soon as I am.'

'A little bird whispered in my ear,' answered Bertie.

'You mean-the girl?'

'Oh, no. And the girl, my inquisitive partner, says she is a princess.'

' The The princess?' princess?'

'Ah! There you have me. I'm no judge of princesses.'

The princess stepped into the conversation. She stil carried her automatic. To Mario she said, 'Close the door and keep guard.' To the others she remarked, 'I am going to show you something. It may be what you are looking for. If it is, then al wil be wel . If you are spies, it wil be a pity, because I shal have to shoot you. We take no risks.'

'No, by jingo, I can see that,' murmured Bertie.

The princess pushed aside an old wine press, disclosing a flight of steps leading downward. The pale yel ow light of a candle came up the steps to meet the dim daylight in the kitchen. 'Descend,' she meet the dim daylight in the kitchen. 'Descend,' she ordered. 'If you are recognised, al wil be wel . If not I shal be close behind you. Proceed.'

Algy went first. A dozen steps brought him to the bottom, into a bare, oblong cel ar. There was only one piece of furniture, a wooden bedstead, on which a bed of dried herbs had been arranged. On it lay a man, a man whose emaciated face was half covered by a fortnight's stubble of beard. But the eyes that he turned on the visitors were clear. He was clad in an old boiler suit, but an R.A.F. uniform lay on the floor beside him.

Algy stopped. His heart appeared tb seize up.

'Great heavens!' he breathed. 'Biggles!'

'Hel o, boys,' answered Biggles. 'What are you staring at?'

'I-I hardly-knew you,' stammered Algy.

'Come right in, Bertie,' invited Biggles. 'Yes, I'm afraid I must look a bit of a mess, but I should have looked a lot worse by now had it not been for my nurse. Gentlemen, al ow me to present to you Her Highness the Princess Marietta de Palma.'

The princess inclined her head and put away her pistol. 'So al is wel ,' she observed, speaking in English. 'Forgive me, but I had to be sure. There are more spies than scorpions in the country now.'

'How the deuce did you fel ows find your way here?' demanded Biggles.

'When you didn't show up we twisted the story out of Raymond and he let us come down. We traced you by the writing on the wal ,' explained Algy.

'Which means, I suppose, that Ginger is in the offing?'

'At the moment he's gone to a beastly place by the name of Peil e,' put in Bertie.

'Why?' asked Biggles. Algy, too, looked surprised, for he knew nothing of Ginger's adventures.

'He went,' said Bertie, 'to get hold of Henri Ducoste, who is now a prisoner in the hospital at Peil e.'

'Henri! A prisoner?-Peil e-I don't understand! I a.s.sumed he got back to England?'

'He did. But he brought us over, and his engine let him down just after he had turned for home. He crashed between Peil e and Baudon, and was taken to hospital pending removal to prison as a de Gaul eist*.'

Gaul eist .'

'I didn't know anything about this,' Algy told Biggles helplessly.

'There are a lot of things you know nothing about, old boy,' continued Bertie. 'I'm a bit worried about Ginger. With one thing and another he may be in a mess. A bul et-hole in the leg has let a lot of the pink juice out of him.'

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