by W E Johns
‘Where have you put them now?’ asked Biggles.
‘Most of ’em are on the floor. I left Bertie picking them up. When we looked like ending up in the drink we got rid of ’em, anyhow, as fast as we could. That weight in our pockets wouldn’t have made swimming any easier.’
‘The sooner we get rid of the accursed stuff altogether the better,’ asserted Biggles. ‘Give me a course for Singapore. I think we might just do it. If we look like running short we shall have to call at Penang. That’s in Malaya, so Yomas can’t touch us there.’
Little more remains to be told. It turned out that the Gadfly just managed to reach the marine aircraft base at Singapore. There Biggles went at once to Government House and reported what he had on board. The result of this was within an hour an army jeep had collected the gold and taken it to the bank where it had previously been deposited. Biggles watched it go with the remark: ‘Good riddance. I never feel entirely happy flying with that sort of cargo.’
They were delighted to find the Alora there, and still more pleased when Mac told them his owners had been in touch with the Burmese Government and everything had been straightened out. Biggles paid him for his services and the last stores he had bought for them. He also promised that when he got to London and made his report he would press for a substantial reward to be made to the Captain of the Alora, without whose help the gold might well have been lost for ever.
‘So now you’ll be going back to England,’ said Mac, as they had a meal together the next day.
‘Yes, but not direct,’ answered Biggles. ‘First I shall have to slip up to Victoria Point to take Chintoo home. When you find yourself working with a reliable chap like that it makes nonsense of this colour-bar argument.’
‘I discovered that years ago,’ said Mac, stuffing tobacco in his pipe. ‘There’s no need for you to go out of your way. I’m sailing tomorrow. I shall be calling at Victoria Point. Chintoo can come with me. I can do with an extra hand.’
This was agreed. So Chintoo, the man who had become more than a willing servant, was paid off, with a considerable bonus. When they last saw him he was buying presents for his wife and children. Naturally, Laon, the Alora’s Malay bosun, who had been so helpful, was not forgotten.
The last thing Biggles did before leaving for home was to call at the office of the resident Japanese official and report the presence either on Kampong or Shark Island of a castaway. Whether or not anything was done about this was never learned; so for how long the unfortunate man had been there, or how he came to be there in the first place, was not known.
Two other men of whom nothing more was heard were Yomas and Feng. Not that Biggles had any further interest in them. He suspected they had decided to keep their mouths shut, because it would be difficult for them to say anything officially without revealing what they hoped to gain.
Biggles sent a signal to the Air Commodore from Singapore reporting the success of the enterprise and then without haste, and without any trouble, took the Gadfly back to England.
THE END
