Part 2 (1/2)

Ginger, gliding at 5,000 feet towards the scene of action, had seen all that Biggles had seen. In fact, he had seen, more, for so far he was un-molested, and flying on a straight course towards the ca.n.a.l, was able to get a clear view of it. From a distance he had seen Biggles's bombs explode, and, shortly afterwards, the destruction of the end shed. He had watched the archie barrage follow-ing him, and then return with renewed violence to the area in which Algy in the Didgeree-Du was now taking up the fight. He saw, too, the explosion of Algy's bombs, although by this time he himself was preparing for action.

The wisdom of Biggles's plan was now. apparent, for not only was he down to a thousand feet, but he had been able to line his machine up with the sheds, which he could see clearly in the lurid glow of the fires, without his presence being suspected.

This satisfactory state of affairs, however, was not to last. Trembling a little with excitement in spite of his efforts to remain calm, he had com-menced a shallow dive towards the objective when a searchlight suddenly swung round and flashed on his wings. It overshot him, and before it could turn back he had steepened his dive so that it sought him in vain. Nevertheless, the damage had been done, and in a twinkling the other lights were probing the air around him.

His mouth turned dry as the first archie sh.e.l.ls lacerated the air dangerously close to him. He knew they were close because he could hear the m.u.f.fled explosions above the roar of his engine, and Biggles had told him that archie was only dangerous when close enough to be heard. He had expected the barrage to be bad, but not quite as terrifying as this. Several times he felt splinters strike the Dingo, and although he tried hard not to think about it, his imagination refused to be side-tracked so easily. However, he kept his eyes on the sheds, determined to get a direct hit or die in the attempt. To endure all this danger for nothing was not, he thought, to be borne. Once he caught a glimpse in his reflector of the inferno that raged in the sky behind him, and the muscles of his face went stiff. Still, he reasoned, Biggles had gone through it ; so had Algy ; therefore, so must he.

An unseen missile crashed through the machine just in front of him with terrifying force.

Some-thing struck him on the cheek with the bite of a whiplash, and he grunted with pain. Putting his hand to the place, he stared fascinated by the sight of his own blood.

Reaction came swift and strong ; and, as so often happens, it took the form, not of fear, but of bitter resentment, and he looked for the target with a personal interest. T11 show you,' he muttered furiously, and jammed the stick for-ward in a kind of fierce exultation.

Down-down-down, he roared, careless now of the storm of fire that raged about him. '

I'm going to get those sheds or bust,' he told himself desperately, and it was no idle boast.

A glance at the altimeter gave him a shock, for the needle was nearly on zero ; he had not realized that he was so low.

In a sort of daze, feeling that the thing was not really happening and that he would presently wake up, he took aim with calculated deliberation. He was still a little short of the target, and the second or two that he had to wait exasperated his patience. He wanted to see the bomb burst and blow every-thing sky high.

Slowly, as the wing crept up to the first shed, his hand groped for the bomb-toggle. '

Now,' he muttered, suddenly conscious of a sense of power, and pulled the handle back as far as it would go. The Dingo b.u.mped as the steel-clad load of high explosive plunged earthward.

Ginger was torn between a desire to wait and watch what happened and an urge to dive clear ; fortunately for him his common sense prevailed, or it is unlikely that he would have lived long enough to know how successful he had been. He had zigzagged away as Biggles had told him, and was about to turn to see the result of his effort when the entire world seemed to blow up, lighting earth and sky in one terrific blaze. He felt the heat of it on his face. The Dingo, caught in that fearful blast, soared dizzily, throwing him against the safety-belt with a force that made him gasp. Tem-porarily blinded and half stunned by shock, he skidded crazily round the sky not knowing which way to go. In a subconscious way he noticed that most of the searchlights had gone out ; nor was the archie as bad as it had been. The lattice mast of a wireless tower seemed to leap out of the darkness towards him, and he dragged the stick back into his thigh in a panic. He missed the mast by inches, but the shock did something to restore his senses to normal. '

Gos.h.!.+ I'm nearly on the ground,' he thought frantically, and made haste to correct the error. He saw the ca.n.a.l, and made for it like a pigeon ; for a few seconds he followed it ; then , happening to glance at his compa.s.s, he saw that he was going the wrong way.

Again it was in something like a panic that he whirled the machine round and sped like a bullet towards the open sea. For some minutes the archie followed him, but in some curious way he had ceased to be alarmed by it. He began to laugh, but pulled himself up abruptly. 'That won't do,' he told himself seriously, and remembering the wound in his face, he felt it carefully. It was still bleeding, but, as far as he could make out, not badly.

In any case, he was not conscious of any pain, so he thought no more about it. He did not bother to climb for height, but checking his compa.s.s, set about getting home by the shortest possible route. He remembered Biggles and Algy, and wondered vaguely how they had fared, but his thoughts were chaotic and he found it difficult to concentrate.

suppose I shall get used to this sort of thing,' he mused philosophically.

He could see the black bulk of Bergen Ait some time before he reached it ; indeed, he was surprised that he could see it so plainly. He scanned the sea for s.h.i.+ps, but there was none in sight, for which he was thankful, for it permitted him to make straight for the cove.

It was clear when he reached it, but as he glided down he could just make out one of the other machines being towed into the cave. Three flashes of a green light gave him the signal to land, and in a minute or two he was on the water, taxi-ing to-wards where he knew the entrance of the cave to be. The Dingo seemed strangely sluggish, but he thought nothing of it until the motor-boat dashed out, with Briny in the bows making frantic signals to him to hasten. Obediently he gave the engine more throttle, and roared into the cave, where the motor-boat took the machine in tow and dragged it to the catwalk.

He switched off and pushed up his goggles. 'What 's the matter ?' he asked weakly.

Biggles answered. 'You were sinking. You must have got a float holed. It's all right now; the Flight-Sergeant will attend to it.'

Ginger sprang up in alarm. 'Great Scott!' he cried, didn't know.'

Biggles helped him ash.o.r.e. 'Good work, laddie,' he said patting him on the back ; 'you got it a beauty.'

'How did you know ?' inquired Ginger. 'Did you see it ?'

certainly did-that is, I saw the blaze on the sky. They saw it from here-and heard it.'

Ginger stared. 'Well, do you know, that's a funny thing,' he said shakily ; was right on top of it yet I didn't hear a blessed thing.' He staggered suddenly.

Biggles caught him. 'Bear a hand, Algy,' he said sharply, noting the blood on Ginger's face. He's been hit. He needs medical attention.'

Ginger laughed foolishly. 'Don't you believe it,' he protested ; 'what I want is my supper.'

CHAPTER V.

AN UNWELCOME VISITOR.

FOR three days the Boomerang Squadron had no further instructions from London, for which Biggles was grateful, for the respite gave him time to organize things at the base to his entire satisfac-tion, and gave Ginger's face a chance to heal. The wound turned out to be a very slight one, no more than a cut from a flying splinter. Even so, in his excited condition it was enough to give him a temperature, and much to his disgust Biggles ordered him to remain in bed for a day. The period of inactivity also gave the Flight-Sergeant an opportunity of repairing the machines, all of which had been more or less damaged by gunfire.

Only one signal was received, and this could not have been more brief. It consisted of a single word, 'Congratulations'.

'I suppose that 's from Colonel Raymond,' said Ginger. 'How do you suppose he knows how much damage we did-when we don't really know our-selves ?'

Biggles laughed shortly. 'He knows all right, you can bet your boots on that,' he a.s.serted.

'We've got agents on the spot, I'll warrant. Some-body told me that we had an agent at Kiel right through the last war. Anyway, since Headquarters has gone to the trouble of congratulating us, we must have made a nasty mess of the dump.'

One other item of news interested them im-mensely, and this they received on the ordinary radio, a powerful instrument on which they could get all the world's programmes. They rarely had time to listen to music, but the news broadcasts kept them up to date on the progress of the war. The item that pleased them most was the story of the raid by R.A.F. Squadrons on the German battles.h.i.+ps at the entrance to the Kiel Ca.n.a.l.

It had occurred on the same day as their own raid, and Biggles realized that the two raids must have been part of the same plan to destroy the enemy's equip-ment in the ca.n.a.l zone.

It was late in the morning of the third day after the raid that the next signal was received.

The three pilots were sitting in the tiny mess, listening to Briny, who was describing with a wealth of graphic detail a raid in which he had once taken part against the cannibals of the Solomon Islands.

'Ten thousand of 'em there was, all as black as midnight, a-dancin' and brandis.h.i.+n' their spears ; and only me and my old s.h.i.+pmate Charlie to face 'em,' he declared in a hoa.r.s.e whisper. ”Charlie,” I sez, ”you attack 'em in the flank. I'll tackle 'em in front. Charge!” I yells, and you wouldn't believe it 'You're quite right, Briny, I wouldn't,' put in Biggles sadly. 'Personally I could charge a well- ,.

done steak right now, so Roy hurried into the room with the signal. He saluted and handed it to Biggles who, after a glance at the coded message, took it to the records room, the others following. He unlocked the safe, took out the code-book, and the envelope to which the signal referred.

'They seem to have got our jobs all ready for us before we came,' remarked Algy.

'The Colonel as good as told us so,' reminded Biggles. 'It was only to be expected. Our people have got spies on the mainland, and probably knew before the war started the most vital objectives which could be reached by a unit stationed here.' He read the orders in silence, the others watching his face anxiously.

'Well ?' exclaimed Algy at last, impatiently.

Biggles glanced up. 'Listen to this,' he said quietly. ”To Officer Commanding Z Squadron, on detached duty. On the first night after receipt of these instructions on which weather conditions are suitable, you will destroy the tunnel on the Berlin- Hamburg railway at Albeck, about sixty miles from the coast, as shown on the enclosed map. Owing to the depth of the tunnel it is not possible to do this by direct bombing. The only way success can definitely be a.s.sured is by placing an explosive charge (case W.D.

6. in your stores) in the tunnel. This will involve landing in enemy territory. A suitable field, one and a quarter miles from the tunnel, is marked in red on the map. You are warned that both ends of the tunnel are guarded day and night by double sentries. The guard-houses are situated as follows. At the northern end, a farm building seventy-eight yards north-east.

At the southern end, a signal box twenty-five yards south-south-east. Receipt of these instructions will be acknowledged by a double A transmitted on the wave-length allotted to you three times at intervals of three seconds.”

Biggles finished reading, laid the paper on the desk and tapped a cigarette reflectively on the back of his hand.