Biggles in the Gobi by Captain W E Johns

Author:Captain W E Johns [Johns, Captain W E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 1953-10-15T17:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VIII NO REST FOR ALGY

AT the oasis Algy wore through a restless night. He had too much on his mind for easy sleep. Naturally, he was more than a little worried on Ginger's account. The dangers attending him on the rescue attempt became so magnified during the small hours that he almost convinced himself that he would be lucky ever to see Ginger again.

Another big worry was the fear that the Tiger would cause trouble. Indeed, this seemed inevitable. He would be bound to report what had happened to the Governor of the district, who, unless he was a complete fool, would realise that something was going on at Nan-hu and take steps to find out what it was. Even if he suspected nothing more than its occupation by the outlaw Kirghiz he would not be likely to sit back and do nothing about it. The probability was that he would follow the normal procedure of dealing with it as a hornets' nest that had become an irritation and send a force to wipe it out.

Brooding on the matter Algy felt that the best he could hope for was that nothing would happen for the next two days, by which time Biggles should have returned and they would all have departed. Far from this hope being fulfilled, his fears were to

materialise to the widest extent.

Tired of wrestling with his problems in the stygian darkness of the cave, he got up, dressed quietly, and went to the entrance both to get a breath of fresh air and be in a better position to hear Ginger coming when his return became imminent.

He could hear nothing, and see very little, for the moon was now well down and the stars were just beginning to weaken in the sky. It was, in fact, the tail end of the darkest hour that comes before dawn. However, his watch told him that daylight was not far off, so although it was bitterly cold he settled down to wait.

So slowly as to be almost imperceptible the blackness gave way to the sombre grey that is the first promise of the rising sun. The silence was profound; and no doubt because that was so, a sound, when it came, appeared out of proportion to its cause. It was no more than a rustle. It seemed to come from somewhere below, either from the area of thick, sun-dried herbage that flourished near the guest-house, or the orchard just beyond.

As a matter of detail, Algy didn't pay much attention to it. It might have been a falling leaf. It might have been a bird—he had noticed some wagtails; or possibly a jerboa, the little desert jumping rat, the holes of which he had seen.

He had dismissed the matter from his mind when another sound brought him sharply to attention. This time it was definite. A twig had snapped. What had caused it to snap? Certainly not a bird or a rat. That something was moving below was no longer in doubt.

What or

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.