Post by dandare on Apr 4, 2017 7:10:31 GMT
Awaiting the arrival of the warlord troops, the gang take cover in a barn. It proves a fairly routine task to relieve the Chinese of one of their trucks . Wei Mei looses off a 10 round burst from his Mauser (Von W had nicked the other one). One round goes the petrol tank of the other lorry. Of which more later..........
The party set off pursued by the other truck. Sadly , Von S (driving) and Wei Mei start squabbling over the remaining Mauser. Von S, going Psychotic, shoots the hapless Chinaman, having carefully stopped the truck first. ignoring the pursuit.......
Luckily,Jakey lobs a grenade into the cab of the enemy truck,setting off the fuel leak as well. This ends the pursuit! Wei Mei and Adair swop places .
eventually the gang reach a town, and and storm into the aerodrome . Hurrah Aircraft! Oops- there are only 2 Camels.
Discovering that they are only a hundred miles north of the New Territories, they set off, Adair and Jakey flying top cover to deter pursuit.
Next Week: Hong Kong Phooey
"A night at the cinema"
The RAF at Kai Tak sort the boys out, and Adair runs into an old pal, "Dizzy" Digswell, who invites them to a mess night in a couple of days.
The party are escorted to their hotel, the "Empress of India" overlooking Victoria harbour, where they are cleaned up, and provided with suits by a grateful government, while being debriefed by Whittinghame- Smythe of the diplomatic service. There is much coming and going at the hotel, as it appears that the Portuguese Governor General of Macau is staying - he is conferring with his British counterpart, as it appears that the french are trying to get their hands on the Portuguese colony.
There is a long and boozy dinner in the hotel, the Portugese party being a few tables away. Port and cigars are circulating, when Jakey and Mick spot a group approaching the Portuguese table from behind. There is a scuffle and two men grab the Governor General and his wife. Two more dinner suited toughs step between the table and our heroes, and draw guns. Von W and VonS have had too much Schnapps, and are unconscious.
Jakey responds to this by headbutting one of the gunmen, Whai Mei runs after the kidnappers, wildly flailing at the gunmen as he goes past. Adair lashes out ineffectively. The surviving gunman empties his pistol at Jakey, to very little effect, and eventually runs off, only to be arrested outside.
Meanwhile, the kidnappers have stolen a Rolls Royce and are hurtling off down the street, pursued by HK police and Why Mei. A bullet pings a tyre, and the roller hits a lamp post. One of the assailants drags the Governor General's wife from the wrecked car and runs into a movie theatre.
There is much screaming as the audience streams from the exits. Why Mei checks the car and finds one of the attackers dead, head through the windscreen. The GG is OK but groggy. Adair and Jakie arrive on the scene, having armed themselves, and the HK Police cordon off the cinema.
Why Mei goes inside, and is in time to spot the baddie heading up to the projection room with his victim., Jakie follows, while outside, Adair climbs up the fire escape ladder with the help of a pyramid of HK police, and discovers a glass dome- the glass is frosted and reinforced with chicken wire. Inside, there is a gantry which runs from the projection room round the inside of the dome. The attacker ventures onto this with the GG's wife, and shoots Adair through the glass. Adair then decides to get off the roof via a door (which leads onto the gantry). He shoots the lock, despite all of the previous experience, and hits himself in the leg with the ricochet.
There follows a species of Mexican standoff, which is resolved with some gunplay.
It transpires that the attackers are French, members of the Partie Coloniale , who were intending to force the GG to hand Macau over to France.
The grateful Portuguese award Adair, Jakie and Why Mei with the Order of Santarem , Second Class
At the squadron mess night, Dizzy takes Adair aside, and shows him an old silver coin, with the face of a bearded king on it, and odd, middle eastern writing.
He explains that he has a proposition:- he's leaving the RAF in a couple of weeks, and he is suggesting a hunt for the rest of the coin hoard. It transpires that he was based at Aden, when he had to bale out due to engine failure. When he landed, he found a cave with pots of treasure. He has no money to finance a trip, so is suggesting a syndicate.
He's had the coin IDed at the British Museum, and they reckon that it might be from Ophir, where the queen of Sheba came from
" A Passage to India"
Remembering that they still have a Vickers Vimy in a hangar at Croydon, they conclude that it's time to say farewell to the fleshpots of the east.
The gang depart by steamer for Madras- Adair wheelchair bound and drinking heavily. As they queue to go down the gangplank, Dizzy spots a face he's seen before, while having the coin examined at the British Museum. Realising that he has been spotted, the character sidles off down an alleyway and is lost in the crowd.
The train takes them across India to Bombay, where they install themselves in a luxurious hotel while they wit for the Imperial Airways flight back to Blighty. Adair, still drinking heavily. Nobody knows if he will walk again. Mainly cos he's too pissed to try.
Von Widdler decides to hire an Indian manservant, and about a dozen applicants turn up. all but 2 fail the first testing question- can you fire a gun?. Of the remaining 2, Von W selects Banjarmassin Gupta, ex of Princess Louise' Own Gurkha Rifles. Banjarmassin assures Von W that he harbours no ill feeling over the "late unpleasantness with Germany" in which he served on the western front. Some of the Germans he met still have both their ears.........
The gang hatch a cunning plan- there has to be a first time for everything! Dizzy, Von S and Gupta will walk down through the town to see if the mystery man from Madras shows up. Von S, Jakey and Why Mei follow on, "surruptitiously" . My arse. Von S drops a grenade out of his trouser leg and has to retrieve it from the gutter.
As they promenade along the front, Von W is nearly knocked down by a gharri which flies out of a side street. Dizzy recognises the passenger as the man from Madras and the British Museum. There follows an exciting chase as our heroes hire their own gharris to pursue. Their target manages to get aboard a fancy steam yacht, which sails off just as they get in pistol range.
Enquiries at the Harbourmaster's office indicate that the "Sheba" is the name of the yacht, and it is registered in Masssawa, flagged as Abyssinian, and owned by a Mr Majoli.
The party then continue on to London, returning to an overjoyed Mrs Hudson in Mount St.
Von S immediately starts muttering about handgrenades, although the others make a more practical list of items required for a desert expedition.
Next Week:-
Will Von S really take a grenade vest rather than a water bottle?
Will Adair fill his with whisky?
Will Gupta carry von W's water bottle?
"Arabian Nights"
Suitably equipped, the party fly out to Aden, ostensibly en route to India. On arrival, the RAF whisk them off to the barracks at Steamer Point. The observant among them spot a familiar shape in the harbour- it's the yacht Sheba!
After settling in in the mess, Von Widdler having partaken of too much drink, they take it in turns to keep an eye on the harbour. Just as well- Why Me spots a motor boat heading ashore. After some debate as to whether they should steal a truck from the MT sheds, they take the sensible course , and call out the guard and get driven to the aerodrome. Arriving at the plane, they are just in time to see a dark shape dropping from the cockpit, and the sprawled body of an RAF sentry on the ground. Jakey and Adair run off in pursuit, Jakey bringing him down the fugitive with a single well aimed shot. He turns out to be an Abyssinian, with the expedition's maps clutched in his now stiffening fingers.
Von S and Whai Mei search the plane, discovering that the navigator's station has been ransacked, an then they hear a ticking noise........
Von S is delegated to remove the time bomb, however it's too dark to defuse it easily, so in the end he has to hurl it out into the Arab night.
The Aeorodrome is in an uproar, and the attack is blamed on Arab Nationalists. No damage is done to our trusty archaeological expedition, and they are able to set off at first light, noting that the Sheba has left the harbour.
At first they shape their course for India, and spot the Sheba out at sea. This is mutual, for they see the glint of binoculars trained on them. There is a short debate on the advisability of dropping Mills Bombs on the boat, but caution prevails, and they head on eastwards, waiting till they are out of sight before turning back to their objective.
The landing goes well, and they troop off up the slope in the searing heat, leaving Von W and Gupta to guard the plane and make dinner. Taking a bit of a risk there, given Von W's catering record.
It takes about an hour and a half to reach the ruins, where the crack in the cliff is visible in a small hollow. There are a number of stone jars visible in the interior, and they set to work, managing to get a couple of stone blocks out before dark. The next day, von W joins them, there being no sign of any opposition, and by mid afternoon they have made a large enough hole to get in. The lids of the jars are sealed with bitumen, and it takes time to work off the lid, revealing stick like objects and a bag of silver coins. The sticks turn out to be bones, and they set to with pick axes and crowbars, in a frenzy of archaeological research.......
Meanwhile, outside......
"in the balance"
The frenzied smashing is interrupted by the arrival of Gupta, who has been running all the way from the plane, firing warning shots. While the boys were busy smashing things inside the the hill, Majoli's yacht arrived and then sent a landing party ashore. Confirming this, a flurry of shots hit around the doorway. Jakey tries to return fire, but is driven back by a burst of automatic fire from outside. Then a grenade is rolled in. Everyone dives for cover- there is a bang, and then a deep rumbling , the room goes dark, and fills with dust. When this clears it is apparent that there has been a landslide- probably that danged overhang........
Gathering up the silver, the party heads for the left hand exit, which is a narrow passageway, just wide enough for one person. They hear a strange chattering noise- Whai Mei is concerned that they have disturbed somebody's ancestors. Further along, there is the sound of rushing water, and they come to a large natural cavern, spanned by a tilting bridge of ancient and cunning construction (I made it last week!). A brief (luckily roped) attempt to cross, using a bag of silver as a counterweight, by Von S, leads only to damp muttering in German. The party retrace their steps and try the middle passage. This leads to a small group of rooms containing the remnants of ancient buckets, and a well with running water at the base. Von S climbs down a set of niches cut into the rocky side of the well, and is stung on the leg by a cave scorpion. There are a number of attempts to treat this - by now his lower leg is very swollen and painful, and he can't feel his toes. Further exploration finds an abandoned mine, but no way out, so they return to the thought provoking bridge.
This time Whai Mei takes the lead, Von S being slowed down. The little light Chink manages to make it to the balance point and accurately throws his the bag of silver ahead. Digswell follows, and bit by bit they all make it across. The drama was intense!
Eventually the tunnel leads into a cave, which looks out over a valley- as far as they can tell, it being dark. They can see cooking fire in the distance. in the morning, they realise that they are on the other side of the escarpment, overlooking a deep valley in which there is a Bedouin encampment. There is a discussion about making contact, however Von W realises that going down and addressing them in Turkish might not be a good idea. They party then head back over the hill, guided by an ominous pall of smoke. peering over the cliff they see that the Vimy is no more, having been torched by Majoli. The sound of digging can be heard below a fresh bit of scarp, and the lob half a dozen of Von S's Mills Bombs over, to liven up the morning........
Next week:-
"What could possibly go wrong?" including a scholarly discussion on why Germans are so careless with their appendages.
"Adair Forms a Syndicate"
The mills bombs are followed up with gunfire, Adair and Wai Mei outflank the baddies via a scree slope. Adair's Thomson finishes Majoli, and his sidekicks.
The party then proceed to the beech, blacking up on the way, and board the Sheba in a burst of gunfire. Thus they add a new crime to their charge sheet- Piracy. Plus throwing wounded enemy to the sharks (von S).
There is a spot of hooky navigation, before they make Aden, and then onto Alexandria to face a Royal Navy Court of enquiry. This awards them compensation for the loss of their aircraft, and defines the coins as treasure trove, thus taking half.
All in all the party are quite flush, and so Adair forms an air charter company, based at the airfield, where they buy a hangar and offices, plus a DH Dragon Rapide. Wei Mei is excluded , on the grounds that he doesn't have enough money to chip in.
" Down amongst the Bulgars"
The first air charter contract is not long in arriving:- the gang are summoned to Benghazi to meet Signor Morricone of the Bank of Italy, who offers them a contract to fly gold from Rome to Istanbul.
They accept , and a day or two later set off from Rome , heading for Belgrade (or Sofia) where refuelling has been arranged. All goes well until they have left Belgrade behind, when the engines start to fail and they are forced down in the only feasible landing ground deep in the Bulgarian mountains. Adair's skill prevents a crash and it is decided to bury and booby trap the gold, as well as digging a dummy pit. Unaware that they have been under observation the whole time, the party spot what looks like a radio station on a nearby mountain, and most of them head for that , leaving Jakey and Adair to guard the plane. There is a short incident with a Bulgarian village policeman, which is resolved without gunplay, and Von W, Gupta, Von S and Whai Mei set off up the mountain through the dense pine forest. This idyllic ramble is progressing well when the sound of machinegun fire is heard from the area of the plane.
Adair and Jakey have had a quiet time for a couple of hors, when the sound of engines alerts them to the arrival of company. This turns out to be an armoured car, to trucks of soldiers and a fuel bowser. Adiar fires a flare, and is rewarded with a burst of fire from the AC. After a further exchange of warning shots, Adair and Jake decide that it would be better to get out of the aircraft and shelter behind the cover of the river bank.
They can only watch as the baddies uncover the two pits, one man being blown up in the process. A plane arrives and lands next to their own and the gold is loaded into it and flown off. The soldiers then depart northwards. Jakey notes that the plane had a Rumanian registration.
Disconsolately surveying the scene, they discover that the dead "Bulgarian" soldier is in fact Chinese, and that calling card with the number "6" has been left
"no 6, Yer tea's oot" Maybe..........
Following the trail, the gang arrive in Sofia, and hire a lorry to carry their weapons to the area that they have identified as No6's base (with the help of some Romanian plane spotters). They try to drive up the valley to the castle, for such it is, but are buzzed by a fighter which drops a message telling them to turn round. They do so, but conceal the truck and head off on foot, lugging an astonishing variety of lethal weapons. A patrol is ambushed , and the gang steal the truck and uniforms. This enables them to deal with the guard at the gate of the estate as well. Whai Mei justifies his position by answering the phone in Chinese, and pretending to be No6's guard commander.
Next episode:- "The Crab with the Golden Claw"
" a spot of snurgling"
The lads, disguised as Chinamen, disguised as Rumanians, disguised as gamekeepers (are you following this?) set off up the road in the captured truck. After a short distance the trees open out- on the right is a small airfield, two huts and a hangar, ahead the road winds up a steep hill to a strange grey building, behind which they can see an old castle on a crag. Sneaking up to the hangar, they find, after making a hole in the canvas, that 2 mechanics are working on one of a pair of fighters, and there is also a transport plane, which they recognise. Whai Mei goes round to engage the mechanics' attention, while Jakey and Adair slit the canvas, sneak in and do a spot of throat slitting.
They disable the planes, then follow up by bursting into the 2 huts- one is the pilots's mess, the other an office. There is a flurry of resistance, ending with Von S being slightly stabbed with a penknife, and Von W being cleavered by an angry cook- lucky he was wearing body armour. After a spot of bandaging, they pile onto the truck again, and drive up the hairpin track to the top of the hill.
The grey building turns out to be the generator house for a cablecar- the casle is actually on the other side of a gorge.
Sneaking in, the gang capture an operator, but are disturbed by a relief party of guards who start crossing over. the party conceal themselves but are spotted, and a short gunfight ensues, resulting in the demise of the 4 guards. unfortunately, the car is then pulled back towards the castle, from which a desultry fire opens up.
Next Week: "Where Eagles Dare"
"Where Eagles Adair!"
It's decided that Adair is the best candidate for the risky crawl along the cable. Sniping deals with the riflemen at the castle gates, however there is some work going on in a tower, which looks like a Maxim being set up. Meanwhile tension mounts as Adair inches his way along the slippy cable, pushing his luck, some would say......
He is about to reach the parked cablecar when the operator pos out to take a shot, but is disabled by a shot in his left arm. Adair has a few nasty moments on the slippy roof of the cablecar, before he can get down and finish off the chinaman with his Tommy gun.
The car is sent back for the rest, who come under machine gun fire on the way over, without any significant damage however.
Von S takes out the MG with his grenade launcher, and the gang make the castle walls without trouble.
The gates are blown with dynamite, while Adair and Whei Mei scale the wall. The fire from the keep is suppressed, and Von S manages to get a grenade in a window. No6, for it is he, stops stroking his pussy, and catches it with the intention of rolling it back out, but maybe should have put the cat down first, as he fumbles badly.
The boys break in to find him dying on the floor, He tries to shoot Adair, who kicks the pistol from his hand. Refusing surrender, he bites down on his Cyanide tooth, but not before trying to bite Adair's ankle.
So it's all over- the gold is recovered, bags of congrats all round. The only fly in the ointment is the message found in what's left of No6's pocket :- "Fight to the death! " signed by No5!
The above adventure was based (loosely!) on the the classic "Biggles and Co", by Captain W.E. Johns
My thanks also to Ted, for taking the role of No6.
Adair and Co will return in:- "Adair and the Missing Millionaire
The party set off pursued by the other truck. Sadly , Von S (driving) and Wei Mei start squabbling over the remaining Mauser. Von S, going Psychotic, shoots the hapless Chinaman, having carefully stopped the truck first. ignoring the pursuit.......
Luckily,Jakey lobs a grenade into the cab of the enemy truck,setting off the fuel leak as well. This ends the pursuit! Wei Mei and Adair swop places .
eventually the gang reach a town, and and storm into the aerodrome . Hurrah Aircraft! Oops- there are only 2 Camels.
Discovering that they are only a hundred miles north of the New Territories, they set off, Adair and Jakey flying top cover to deter pursuit.
Next Week: Hong Kong Phooey
"A night at the cinema"
The RAF at Kai Tak sort the boys out, and Adair runs into an old pal, "Dizzy" Digswell, who invites them to a mess night in a couple of days.
The party are escorted to their hotel, the "Empress of India" overlooking Victoria harbour, where they are cleaned up, and provided with suits by a grateful government, while being debriefed by Whittinghame- Smythe of the diplomatic service. There is much coming and going at the hotel, as it appears that the Portuguese Governor General of Macau is staying - he is conferring with his British counterpart, as it appears that the french are trying to get their hands on the Portuguese colony.
There is a long and boozy dinner in the hotel, the Portugese party being a few tables away. Port and cigars are circulating, when Jakey and Mick spot a group approaching the Portuguese table from behind. There is a scuffle and two men grab the Governor General and his wife. Two more dinner suited toughs step between the table and our heroes, and draw guns. Von W and VonS have had too much Schnapps, and are unconscious.
Jakey responds to this by headbutting one of the gunmen, Whai Mei runs after the kidnappers, wildly flailing at the gunmen as he goes past. Adair lashes out ineffectively. The surviving gunman empties his pistol at Jakey, to very little effect, and eventually runs off, only to be arrested outside.
Meanwhile, the kidnappers have stolen a Rolls Royce and are hurtling off down the street, pursued by HK police and Why Mei. A bullet pings a tyre, and the roller hits a lamp post. One of the assailants drags the Governor General's wife from the wrecked car and runs into a movie theatre.
There is much screaming as the audience streams from the exits. Why Mei checks the car and finds one of the attackers dead, head through the windscreen. The GG is OK but groggy. Adair and Jakie arrive on the scene, having armed themselves, and the HK Police cordon off the cinema.
Why Mei goes inside, and is in time to spot the baddie heading up to the projection room with his victim., Jakie follows, while outside, Adair climbs up the fire escape ladder with the help of a pyramid of HK police, and discovers a glass dome- the glass is frosted and reinforced with chicken wire. Inside, there is a gantry which runs from the projection room round the inside of the dome. The attacker ventures onto this with the GG's wife, and shoots Adair through the glass. Adair then decides to get off the roof via a door (which leads onto the gantry). He shoots the lock, despite all of the previous experience, and hits himself in the leg with the ricochet.
There follows a species of Mexican standoff, which is resolved with some gunplay.
It transpires that the attackers are French, members of the Partie Coloniale , who were intending to force the GG to hand Macau over to France.
The grateful Portuguese award Adair, Jakie and Why Mei with the Order of Santarem , Second Class
At the squadron mess night, Dizzy takes Adair aside, and shows him an old silver coin, with the face of a bearded king on it, and odd, middle eastern writing.
He explains that he has a proposition:- he's leaving the RAF in a couple of weeks, and he is suggesting a hunt for the rest of the coin hoard. It transpires that he was based at Aden, when he had to bale out due to engine failure. When he landed, he found a cave with pots of treasure. He has no money to finance a trip, so is suggesting a syndicate.
He's had the coin IDed at the British Museum, and they reckon that it might be from Ophir, where the queen of Sheba came from
" A Passage to India"
Remembering that they still have a Vickers Vimy in a hangar at Croydon, they conclude that it's time to say farewell to the fleshpots of the east.
The gang depart by steamer for Madras- Adair wheelchair bound and drinking heavily. As they queue to go down the gangplank, Dizzy spots a face he's seen before, while having the coin examined at the British Museum. Realising that he has been spotted, the character sidles off down an alleyway and is lost in the crowd.
The train takes them across India to Bombay, where they install themselves in a luxurious hotel while they wit for the Imperial Airways flight back to Blighty. Adair, still drinking heavily. Nobody knows if he will walk again. Mainly cos he's too pissed to try.
Von Widdler decides to hire an Indian manservant, and about a dozen applicants turn up. all but 2 fail the first testing question- can you fire a gun?. Of the remaining 2, Von W selects Banjarmassin Gupta, ex of Princess Louise' Own Gurkha Rifles. Banjarmassin assures Von W that he harbours no ill feeling over the "late unpleasantness with Germany" in which he served on the western front. Some of the Germans he met still have both their ears.........
The gang hatch a cunning plan- there has to be a first time for everything! Dizzy, Von S and Gupta will walk down through the town to see if the mystery man from Madras shows up. Von S, Jakey and Why Mei follow on, "surruptitiously" . My arse. Von S drops a grenade out of his trouser leg and has to retrieve it from the gutter.
As they promenade along the front, Von W is nearly knocked down by a gharri which flies out of a side street. Dizzy recognises the passenger as the man from Madras and the British Museum. There follows an exciting chase as our heroes hire their own gharris to pursue. Their target manages to get aboard a fancy steam yacht, which sails off just as they get in pistol range.
Enquiries at the Harbourmaster's office indicate that the "Sheba" is the name of the yacht, and it is registered in Masssawa, flagged as Abyssinian, and owned by a Mr Majoli.
The party then continue on to London, returning to an overjoyed Mrs Hudson in Mount St.
Von S immediately starts muttering about handgrenades, although the others make a more practical list of items required for a desert expedition.
Next Week:-
Will Von S really take a grenade vest rather than a water bottle?
Will Adair fill his with whisky?
Will Gupta carry von W's water bottle?
"Arabian Nights"
Suitably equipped, the party fly out to Aden, ostensibly en route to India. On arrival, the RAF whisk them off to the barracks at Steamer Point. The observant among them spot a familiar shape in the harbour- it's the yacht Sheba!
After settling in in the mess, Von Widdler having partaken of too much drink, they take it in turns to keep an eye on the harbour. Just as well- Why Me spots a motor boat heading ashore. After some debate as to whether they should steal a truck from the MT sheds, they take the sensible course , and call out the guard and get driven to the aerodrome. Arriving at the plane, they are just in time to see a dark shape dropping from the cockpit, and the sprawled body of an RAF sentry on the ground. Jakey and Adair run off in pursuit, Jakey bringing him down the fugitive with a single well aimed shot. He turns out to be an Abyssinian, with the expedition's maps clutched in his now stiffening fingers.
Von S and Whai Mei search the plane, discovering that the navigator's station has been ransacked, an then they hear a ticking noise........
Von S is delegated to remove the time bomb, however it's too dark to defuse it easily, so in the end he has to hurl it out into the Arab night.
The Aeorodrome is in an uproar, and the attack is blamed on Arab Nationalists. No damage is done to our trusty archaeological expedition, and they are able to set off at first light, noting that the Sheba has left the harbour.
At first they shape their course for India, and spot the Sheba out at sea. This is mutual, for they see the glint of binoculars trained on them. There is a short debate on the advisability of dropping Mills Bombs on the boat, but caution prevails, and they head on eastwards, waiting till they are out of sight before turning back to their objective.
The landing goes well, and they troop off up the slope in the searing heat, leaving Von W and Gupta to guard the plane and make dinner. Taking a bit of a risk there, given Von W's catering record.
It takes about an hour and a half to reach the ruins, where the crack in the cliff is visible in a small hollow. There are a number of stone jars visible in the interior, and they set to work, managing to get a couple of stone blocks out before dark. The next day, von W joins them, there being no sign of any opposition, and by mid afternoon they have made a large enough hole to get in. The lids of the jars are sealed with bitumen, and it takes time to work off the lid, revealing stick like objects and a bag of silver coins. The sticks turn out to be bones, and they set to with pick axes and crowbars, in a frenzy of archaeological research.......
Meanwhile, outside......
"in the balance"
The frenzied smashing is interrupted by the arrival of Gupta, who has been running all the way from the plane, firing warning shots. While the boys were busy smashing things inside the the hill, Majoli's yacht arrived and then sent a landing party ashore. Confirming this, a flurry of shots hit around the doorway. Jakey tries to return fire, but is driven back by a burst of automatic fire from outside. Then a grenade is rolled in. Everyone dives for cover- there is a bang, and then a deep rumbling , the room goes dark, and fills with dust. When this clears it is apparent that there has been a landslide- probably that danged overhang........
Gathering up the silver, the party heads for the left hand exit, which is a narrow passageway, just wide enough for one person. They hear a strange chattering noise- Whai Mei is concerned that they have disturbed somebody's ancestors. Further along, there is the sound of rushing water, and they come to a large natural cavern, spanned by a tilting bridge of ancient and cunning construction (I made it last week!). A brief (luckily roped) attempt to cross, using a bag of silver as a counterweight, by Von S, leads only to damp muttering in German. The party retrace their steps and try the middle passage. This leads to a small group of rooms containing the remnants of ancient buckets, and a well with running water at the base. Von S climbs down a set of niches cut into the rocky side of the well, and is stung on the leg by a cave scorpion. There are a number of attempts to treat this - by now his lower leg is very swollen and painful, and he can't feel his toes. Further exploration finds an abandoned mine, but no way out, so they return to the thought provoking bridge.
This time Whai Mei takes the lead, Von S being slowed down. The little light Chink manages to make it to the balance point and accurately throws his the bag of silver ahead. Digswell follows, and bit by bit they all make it across. The drama was intense!
Eventually the tunnel leads into a cave, which looks out over a valley- as far as they can tell, it being dark. They can see cooking fire in the distance. in the morning, they realise that they are on the other side of the escarpment, overlooking a deep valley in which there is a Bedouin encampment. There is a discussion about making contact, however Von W realises that going down and addressing them in Turkish might not be a good idea. They party then head back over the hill, guided by an ominous pall of smoke. peering over the cliff they see that the Vimy is no more, having been torched by Majoli. The sound of digging can be heard below a fresh bit of scarp, and the lob half a dozen of Von S's Mills Bombs over, to liven up the morning........
Next week:-
"What could possibly go wrong?" including a scholarly discussion on why Germans are so careless with their appendages.
"Adair Forms a Syndicate"
The mills bombs are followed up with gunfire, Adair and Wai Mei outflank the baddies via a scree slope. Adair's Thomson finishes Majoli, and his sidekicks.
The party then proceed to the beech, blacking up on the way, and board the Sheba in a burst of gunfire. Thus they add a new crime to their charge sheet- Piracy. Plus throwing wounded enemy to the sharks (von S).
There is a spot of hooky navigation, before they make Aden, and then onto Alexandria to face a Royal Navy Court of enquiry. This awards them compensation for the loss of their aircraft, and defines the coins as treasure trove, thus taking half.
All in all the party are quite flush, and so Adair forms an air charter company, based at the airfield, where they buy a hangar and offices, plus a DH Dragon Rapide. Wei Mei is excluded , on the grounds that he doesn't have enough money to chip in.
" Down amongst the Bulgars"
The first air charter contract is not long in arriving:- the gang are summoned to Benghazi to meet Signor Morricone of the Bank of Italy, who offers them a contract to fly gold from Rome to Istanbul.
They accept , and a day or two later set off from Rome , heading for Belgrade (or Sofia) where refuelling has been arranged. All goes well until they have left Belgrade behind, when the engines start to fail and they are forced down in the only feasible landing ground deep in the Bulgarian mountains. Adair's skill prevents a crash and it is decided to bury and booby trap the gold, as well as digging a dummy pit. Unaware that they have been under observation the whole time, the party spot what looks like a radio station on a nearby mountain, and most of them head for that , leaving Jakey and Adair to guard the plane. There is a short incident with a Bulgarian village policeman, which is resolved without gunplay, and Von W, Gupta, Von S and Whai Mei set off up the mountain through the dense pine forest. This idyllic ramble is progressing well when the sound of machinegun fire is heard from the area of the plane.
Adair and Jakey have had a quiet time for a couple of hors, when the sound of engines alerts them to the arrival of company. This turns out to be an armoured car, to trucks of soldiers and a fuel bowser. Adiar fires a flare, and is rewarded with a burst of fire from the AC. After a further exchange of warning shots, Adair and Jake decide that it would be better to get out of the aircraft and shelter behind the cover of the river bank.
They can only watch as the baddies uncover the two pits, one man being blown up in the process. A plane arrives and lands next to their own and the gold is loaded into it and flown off. The soldiers then depart northwards. Jakey notes that the plane had a Rumanian registration.
Disconsolately surveying the scene, they discover that the dead "Bulgarian" soldier is in fact Chinese, and that calling card with the number "6" has been left
"no 6, Yer tea's oot" Maybe..........
Following the trail, the gang arrive in Sofia, and hire a lorry to carry their weapons to the area that they have identified as No6's base (with the help of some Romanian plane spotters). They try to drive up the valley to the castle, for such it is, but are buzzed by a fighter which drops a message telling them to turn round. They do so, but conceal the truck and head off on foot, lugging an astonishing variety of lethal weapons. A patrol is ambushed , and the gang steal the truck and uniforms. This enables them to deal with the guard at the gate of the estate as well. Whai Mei justifies his position by answering the phone in Chinese, and pretending to be No6's guard commander.
Next episode:- "The Crab with the Golden Claw"
" a spot of snurgling"
The lads, disguised as Chinamen, disguised as Rumanians, disguised as gamekeepers (are you following this?) set off up the road in the captured truck. After a short distance the trees open out- on the right is a small airfield, two huts and a hangar, ahead the road winds up a steep hill to a strange grey building, behind which they can see an old castle on a crag. Sneaking up to the hangar, they find, after making a hole in the canvas, that 2 mechanics are working on one of a pair of fighters, and there is also a transport plane, which they recognise. Whai Mei goes round to engage the mechanics' attention, while Jakey and Adair slit the canvas, sneak in and do a spot of throat slitting.
They disable the planes, then follow up by bursting into the 2 huts- one is the pilots's mess, the other an office. There is a flurry of resistance, ending with Von S being slightly stabbed with a penknife, and Von W being cleavered by an angry cook- lucky he was wearing body armour. After a spot of bandaging, they pile onto the truck again, and drive up the hairpin track to the top of the hill.
The grey building turns out to be the generator house for a cablecar- the casle is actually on the other side of a gorge.
Sneaking in, the gang capture an operator, but are disturbed by a relief party of guards who start crossing over. the party conceal themselves but are spotted, and a short gunfight ensues, resulting in the demise of the 4 guards. unfortunately, the car is then pulled back towards the castle, from which a desultry fire opens up.
Next Week: "Where Eagles Dare"
"Where Eagles Adair!"
It's decided that Adair is the best candidate for the risky crawl along the cable. Sniping deals with the riflemen at the castle gates, however there is some work going on in a tower, which looks like a Maxim being set up. Meanwhile tension mounts as Adair inches his way along the slippy cable, pushing his luck, some would say......
He is about to reach the parked cablecar when the operator pos out to take a shot, but is disabled by a shot in his left arm. Adair has a few nasty moments on the slippy roof of the cablecar, before he can get down and finish off the chinaman with his Tommy gun.
The car is sent back for the rest, who come under machine gun fire on the way over, without any significant damage however.
Von S takes out the MG with his grenade launcher, and the gang make the castle walls without trouble.
The gates are blown with dynamite, while Adair and Whei Mei scale the wall. The fire from the keep is suppressed, and Von S manages to get a grenade in a window. No6, for it is he, stops stroking his pussy, and catches it with the intention of rolling it back out, but maybe should have put the cat down first, as he fumbles badly.
The boys break in to find him dying on the floor, He tries to shoot Adair, who kicks the pistol from his hand. Refusing surrender, he bites down on his Cyanide tooth, but not before trying to bite Adair's ankle.
So it's all over- the gold is recovered, bags of congrats all round. The only fly in the ointment is the message found in what's left of No6's pocket :- "Fight to the death! " signed by No5!
The above adventure was based (loosely!) on the the classic "Biggles and Co", by Captain W.E. Johns
My thanks also to Ted, for taking the role of No6.
Adair and Co will return in:- "Adair and the Missing Millionaire