This Biggles short story is intended to tell the tale of Smith's dramatic escape after he had helped out Biggles and Ginger in 'Biggles Follows On'. I borrowed the idea of The Underground Railway from John Buchan's book Mr. Standfast, where it is mentioned in a few sentances. I have always thought it was a good idea that could be expanded in a shart story. I am not entirely happy with this story but I cant think how to improve it. I had also kinda promised my best friend that I would publish it here in time for her birthday! Happy Birthday electric sapphire !!
From Biggles Follows On:
'But he had an interest in a letter that arrived sometime later. A slow smile spread over his face as he read it. "You won't guess who this is from so I'll tell you," he said "Smith, our friend in Prague. He's home, and wants us to have a meal with him."
"Well blow me down" cried Bertie, "how did he manage it?"
"He doesn't say." Answered Biggles, "But it should be quite a story."
And it was. But this is not the place to tell it.'
Hello Bigglesworth, please meet my mother and father, and a friend, Miss Elisabeth Wilfer. Smith made introductions all round. Let's have dinner and then afterwards I will tell you the story of my escape.
It all started the day after you left for England. It was getting dark, nearly closing time and I was in my shop as usual when a young lady entered. As she was wearing the typical dress of a peasant there was nothing unusual about her until she spoke... in perfect German she gave the correct password phrases.
I don't know why but I immediately felt suspicious... however she answered my few security questions correctly so I led her into the house. Once there she clutched my arm and holding a finger to her lips whispered "I have been sent here against my will by my uncle to betray you but if you trust me we can both escape to West Germany. I hate my uncle and his political views and have been longing to get away". She then went on to tell me that her uncle, Erich von Stalhein, used her as a secretary and she was privy to a lot of information that the British Government would be glad to have. Her uncle treated her like a slave because her father was English, so she had plenty of reason to betray him.
I hesitated... as you would expect I suspected a trap... at the moment the girl was alone and I could have overpowered her and escaped my own way... or so I thought to myself...
"You can try and escape on your own if you wish but if I do not come back to my uncle in an hour he will send in the storm troopers. If you and I escape together we can do it because I have the knowledge of my uncles secret routes by which he sends agents into West Germany!"
I hesitated...
"We must be quick though" she urged "we can only do it if we leave now so that when the alarm is raised in a hour's time we are well on the way! I know that it must seem suspicious but if you cant trust me then please bear in mind that if I am not what I say then you have no better hope of escape, you are known to the secret police and your accustomed escape routes are all cut off, even the house roof route is known... what can you lose by trusting me?"
I decided for better or for worse to trust this girl, she had one of those open, honest expressions and I didn't believe that a girl in her early twenties could deceive me who had been a spy for so many years! Little did I know then what an excellent actor she was... Smith smiled lugubriously...
Biggles happened to look at Miss Elisabeth Wilfer at this point in the narrative; he noted with some surprise that she was watching him with the faintly amused expression of someone who knows something that you don't know. He frowned slightly...
"I can see the force of your argument, I shall accompany you and trust that fortune shall favour the bold and the true!" I replied with what I imagined to be a wry smile "Lead on Macbeth!"
"Grab a small bag of anything you need to take with you and then we must be away" she replied.
As I did as I was bid I wondered if I was a complete fool...
We left the house a few minutes later and she led me by many quiet back routes and alleyways until we stood behind some bushes on the outskirts of the town. "Wait here" she hissed. As I crouched in the bushes she slipped off and I could perceive her in the dim gloom crossing the road surreptitiously and stooping to look at something before disappearing from view.
Moments later she reappeared noiselessly at my side, "all is well" she whispered "our conveyance should be here in about ten minutes".
A short while later I spotted a farm cart jogging slowly along the road pulled by an ancient and decrepit looking horse. The girl clutched at my arm and, as the cart drew alongside, whispered "come on". I followed her as she vaulted onto the cart and pushed aside a hay bale, revealing a cavity inside the other bales that filled the cart. We slipped into this cavity and she pulled the bale across the opening.
At first I could see nothing in the gloom of our retreat, however as my eyes adjusted I could see that we were both sitting on the floor of the cart in a very small cavity. The girl smiled at me "this is intended for one person".
For the next hour we jolted over what felt like very rough tracks. I tried to engage my companion in conversation. At first she was very reticent and urged the caution of being quiet, however as the tracks got rougher she relaxed a little and we held a whispered conversation about what we would do when we reached Freedom! I fear that for both of us our ideas revolved around filling our stomachs with the most delicious food in the largest possible quantities! Understandable perhaps as in Soviet countries only the top brass get good food and what the rest of us have to make shift with barely supports life!
After an hour had passed in this fashion the girl moved aside the bale covering our exit and peered out. A few minutes later she jumped out of the cart and beckoned to me to follow.
"That was third class on the Underground Railway" she whispered, "we now move up to first class!" Puzzled I followed her as she led the way round the corner to a layby. Waiting here was a large enclosed car with tinted windows hiding the interior. We got into the back seats and the car then slid smoothly off driven by the unknown chauffer. As you can imagine I was now wondering what I had let myself in for and my suspicions were coming back.
"Have you ever read 'Mr. Standfast' by John Buchan?" the girl asked. "No" I replied. "Ah that explains why you didn't understand my reference to the Underground Railway, you should read it, his books are very good. I have read a lot of them; I got away with it because I told my uncle that I was practicing my English so that I would be of use for translating! He believed my because I am a girl so I couldn't possibly tell him a lie... the old fool!"
"So what is this underground railway?" I asked, but I got no answer immediately. The car was slowing and the girl was winding down the window. Through the windscreen I could just see a guard post on the road ahead. As we slowed down approaching the post the girl held what I assumed to be a pass out of the window, the guard nodded and we sped on again.
Then she deigned to answer my earlier question with the words, "The Underground Railway came in at the end of the book when Buchan's hero Hannay used it to get his prisoners out of Switzerland. It was the invention of his German enemy Graf von Schwabbing. Read the book when we get back to England!"
We passed two more guard posts in this way before our driver drew into another layby. "We move down to second class now" the girl said as she led the way out of the car. It was then that the thought struck me that as I had no idea of where we were now I had no hope of being able to escape should this girl have deceived me for I wouldn't know in which direction to start. An unpleasant thought to say the least!
The girl led the way along the road, through a field gate, across the field, up an embankment and through a gap in a fence at the top. I then beheld before us a railway line. We had struck it at a point where it curved round in a steep bend. A few hundred yards away on the right were the lights of a station.
"The trains are slow from coming out of the station and they cant speed up until they are round the bend" the girl whispered "the next one is due in a few minutes. Have you ever jumped a train?" "No". "Ok don't worry, just follow me. We run along the track after it and jump in the guards van."
Moments later that is exactly what we did. As we sprawled on the floor of the guards van another man jumped in too. "Liz" he gasped, "what on earth are you up too? Give yourself up now and I'll make sure you don't get the ultimate penalty." Before my brain had even comprehended just what was going on the girl who I now knew to be called Liz sat up pulled an automatic out and shot the bloke. Clearly a move that he had anticipated even less than I had! She then scrambled to her feet and kicked the body out onto the rails behind the train.
Biggles glanced again a Miss Elisabeth Wilfer. She was now staring into space and biting her finger nails.
Dazed by this unexpected turn of events I stared at Liz and stammered "w-what who, who w-was that?"
"Heinrich Kline, he's an awful brute, I think he's wanted to marry me for a long time but he is a schweinhund and I hate him" she spat with unexpected vehemence.
I stared at her in surprise for so far she had shown no feeling at anything and I had decided she was the coldest and most indifferent girl I had ever met. Now, as we settled down in the guards van, I wondered uneasily if she was actually a consummate actor.
I dosed as we trundled through the night, and woke to find that the day had dawned bright and clear. The girl must have seen me move for she turned from where she stood looking out at the day and with a smile wished me good morning and told me to get up and get my stuff for we should have to get off in about five minutes.
We left the train as it slowed down on yet another bend and scrambled through the hedge and down to a road below. We tramped along this for about a mile before we entered the courtyard of a large country house. We rang the bell and we ushered in by silent but deferential servants and shown to a room where a large breakfast was served. Twenty minutes later we were on the way again, this time the girl took the wheel of a large closed car with tinted windows that was parked in the courtyard.
We drove for many miles along country roads, slowing down every so often to pick up a peasant boy or heavily cloaked man who would stand on the running board and guide us down tiny lanes and across fields 'till we were back on the road. Avoiding guard posts Liz said.
Eventually after we had driven in this fashion for about two hours Liz turned to me and said "we're in West Germany, what do you want to do now?"
"Let's go to Berlin, I know the intelligence bloke there and he's a good lad" I replied after some deliberation.
"It shall be as you wish" she replied with another slight smile.
The rest was easy, we drove to Berlin, spoke to my friend in intelligence and were soon on the way to England. And here we are! Here of course we were subjected to intense questioning, you can trust our intelligence people to extract every scrap of information you know and quite a bit you didn't know you knew! That's it really.
"Very interesting" Biggles said turning to Miss Elisabeth Wilfer, "Are you 'Liz'?"
"Yes" she replied with a grin.
Two weeks later Biggles looked up from the post he was reading. "Here's an invite for us all to Smiths wedding to Miss Elisabeth Wilfer. We'd better see about getting our best bib and tucker out of mothballs!"