As he turned away the friendly sergeant offered to take him inside the plane again, and they went up to her flight control room. The sergeant pointed with pride to her dashboard, which had over twenty dials and switches on it; ‘rev.’ counter, boost pressure, airspeed indicator, altimeter, artificial horizon, oil pressure, petrol pressure, change-over switches, rate of climb indicator, clock, stop-watch, emergency boost, thermometer, light switches, ignition switches, and the rest. A little confusing to a novice but Rex was no novice. Inside, the machine had already been gutted of most of its non-essential fitments and its four machine-guns had also been unshipped. Rex knew what he was up to.
After dinner that evening when the two friends were alone, Richard said casually, “D’you remember that suggestion you made when we were arguing politics in the Palacio Coralles—that Simon and the Duke, and you and I should pair; and leave the Spaniards to fight it out?”
“Yep. You and I were willing, but the others wouldn’t play.”
“That’s so; we felt we couldn’t let them down. Well, it seems to me the situation’s altered now. Both of us have done all we can and you’re determined to clear out. I’ve made up my mind I’m game to pair with you.”
“Oh, boy!” Rex clapped Richard on the shoulder with his leg-of-mutton hand. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard in a whale of a while. We’ll both be homeward bound tomorrow.”
“Not tomorrow, old chap. The next day, if you don’t mind.”
“Why the delay? Surely you’re not still fretting yourself about that lousy gold. You could hunt the factory for a month of Sundays but you wouldn’t find it. The darn stuff just isn’t there.”
Richard nodded. “That’s the way I feel and I’m not going to waste any more time looking for it. But I’ve two good reasons for not wanting to leave until the day after tomorrow. Firstly, when the Flying Sow goes up she’ll be carrying bombs, won’t she?”
“Yes. That’s my big excuse for taking her out.”
“Then you’ve got to drop those bombs somewhere. You can’t risk landing her with twelve tons of explosive under her bottom.”
Rex grinned. “I’d hate to have to try.”
“Exactly, and if I’m to be your bomber I’ve got to have a few hours’ instruction with somebody who understands those precision bombing sights. It’s not necessary that I should be trained to a high degree of accuracy because we shall unload our eggs in open country. But I’m not going to risk killing civilians, or Nationalists, or Reds, and that big stuff would blow down every ordinary house within a quarter of a mile of where it fell, I must know enough about the job to ensure getting rid of it without endangering life.”
“That’s sound enough. What’s your other reason?”
“Where d’you intend to make for?”
“Marseilles.”
“Direct flight?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t intend coming down anywhere en route?”
“No. Why should I?”
“Your word on that.”
“You have it.”
“D’you realise you’ll be passing over Government territory practically the whole way? Think of the risk if some of those Russian chasers get up after us. We’ll be carrying Nationalist markings, remember.”
“That’s so, but we’ll be flying pretty high.”
“I think I’ve got a better scheme.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I didn’t tell you before but Marie-Lou picked me up at Madeira and brought me over to Gib. in the yacht.”
“I guessed as much,” smiled Rex. “She’s been hanging about off the north coast of Spain ever since July, hasn’t she? You can’t hide a yacht that has to pick up post and supplies twice a week. Simon and I got on to it months ago that she was based on Bordeaux. She’s been sitting in the harbour saving oil there for a long time past.”
“Well, at the moment she’s in Gib. If we can get a wireless to her tonight she can bring the yacht round to a rendezvous we’ll give her off the south coast, tomorrow. She’ll be there for certain next day. Instead of flying north-east, we’ll head south, that’s all; but the distance is less and we’ll be flying over Nationalist territory a good part of the time. It’ll be quicker and safer. D’you agree?”
“No. The scheme sounds fine and there’s nothing I’d love better than to dine with Marie-Lou on the yacht two nights from this. But it just isn’t possible. The south coast is one wiggle-waggle of rocks and mountains. You couldn’t land a Flying Flea on it let alone the Flying Sow.”
“We’ll come down on the water and the yacht will pick us up.”
“You’re nuts, man. She’s a land plane, not an amphibian.”
“I don’t care. If you bring her down in France she’ll be interned. She’s as good as lost to the Nationalists already. What’s it matter if we go the whole hog and smash her up?”
“Talk sense. She’s got no floats. You can’t go landing on the water with a thing like the Flying Sow. She’d sink.”
“Let her sink. We’ll swim until the yacht’s launch picks us up. As long as you can bring her down to the water without breaking our necks that’s all that matters.”
“If the sea’s not too rough I figure I could do that. But why ask me to do such a crazy thing when there’re lots of other places where we could land without any risk at all?”
“Because, dear fool, at any neutral airport we’re bound to have trouble with the authorities. It will get in the papers and God knows what. I have the strongest possible objection to being labelled as a Red who stole one of General Franco’s planes.”
“So that’s the trouble. Well, I’m sorry, but if you’re playing ball with me you’ll just have to take a chance on that. I’m not making any water landings in the Flying Sow.”
“Oh, yes, you are.”
“Oh, no, I’m not.”
Richard smiled. “Now I’ve made up my mind to quit, it suits me to clear straight out of this place with you; but there’s one thing you’ve got to get into that big head of yours. I hate to tell you so but you’re going to take your orders from me.”
“Go on, little Caesar, go in,” said Rex a trifle ominously. “Thinking of threatening me with a shooting party?”
“No, but I could easily arrange one for some other people.”
“Just what d’you mean?”
“You know the foreman here, Matias Falcon. You probably know one or two friends of his as well. When I first set eyes on them they were a nice little bunch of Anarchists. I’ve only got to say the word to Don Baltazar and he’d have the whole lot shot.”
“D’you realise that might bring me into it?”
“Oh, no. I’d take care of that. You’re only my innocent little cousin Willie. You weren’t here in July when all these birds were Reds. If you’ve been a trifle indiscreet in palling up to them since, that’s not your fault. How could you know what they used to be? If they mention you when they’re questioned I’ll say they’re telling a pack of lies just to try to gain time by involving you; nasty Red lies, Rex, old scout. Don Baltazar will simply lap that up. Matias and his gang are going to face a firing-squad unless you agree to do as I request.”
“But, Richard, you wouldn’t do an awful thing like that! I’m acquainted with these guys you mention and it’s true they’re pro-Government on the q.t. But they’re decent fellows and they’ve never done you any harm.”
“Haven’t they! That’s all you know.” Richard was bluffing now but his eyes were just as hard as if he were prepared to shoot the men himself. “I never did like Anarchists. This little crowd played merry hell when the Duke and I were here. On account of their trying to seize the factory I damn nearly got killed myself. Why should I wink at it because they’ve done a turn-coat act? I’ve got no interest whatever in protecting them. They’re going to die tomorrow morning, Rex, unless you’re prepared to buy their lives by doing as I wish.”
“I wouldn’t have thought it of you, Richard.”
&nbs
p; ‘Think what you like. The choice lies with you.”
“O.K., then,” Rex shrugged. “I’ll land at sea if you insist. It doesn’t cut all that ice with me as long as I get out.”
Richard heaved a mental sigh of relief and smiled again now he was certain that Rex did not mean to call his bluff. “Tomorrow, then, I’ll get the Germans to give me a little bombing instruction,” he said. “But we’ve got to get this radio off to Marie-Lou tonight.”
“I don’t like it. They’ll smell a rat if you go radioing to her to be ready to meet us some place when we’re only supposed to be flying to Madrid and back.”
“D’you think I’m fool enough to send a bald cable like that after having worked so long under the Big White Chief? The message will be in cipher.”
“I doubt if they’ll let you send it, then.”
“Oh, yes, they will. The Duke made it up on our way out from England. It’s very simple. Very neat.” Richard took out a piece of paper and a pencil. “This is how it works. For our purpose the coast of Spain is divided into sixteen sections. A girl’s Christian name indicates each. Betty for Barcelona, Alice for Alicante, and so on. That’s all there is to learn. We first write ‘Mary’ which being interpreted out of the ancient Sanscrit means ‘Malaga sector’.”
“Go on,” said Rex, his good temper quite recovered. “This is interesting.”
“We then look at the cape nearest the spot to which we want the yacht to go. In our case it’s Cala Burras. We use the first three letters of that, add a few more and make up a surname out of it; Burns, Burnett, Burton, ‘Burnand’. That will do. You see it’s got a ‘D’ on the end. If the name ends with any letter in the first half of the alphabet the yacht goes to the bay on the right of the point, if it ends with a letter in the second half then the yacht goes to a bay on the left. Now we’ll add the address: ‘S.Y. Golden Gull, Gibraltar’ and—‘Many Happy Returns’, which means ‘lie off’, whereas ‘Good luck’ would mean ‘send a boat into’. Next we put ‘For Wednesday Twenty-fifth’ which states the date we want the yacht there, and giving the day guards against a transmission error of the date. Now ‘love’ means morning, ‘best love’ evening, and ‘kisses’ night. What time are you proposing to make this flight?”
“Madrid to Malaga’s four hundred odd miles but we’ve got to make a show of going up to Madrid first so that’s another twenty-five, and we’ll have to go out of our course a bit on account of the mountains in the south. Call it five hundred. Three and a half hours should be ample. We’ll tell the folks here that we think there’ll be more chance of hitting our objective in a daylight raid. Say we start right after the siesta I’ll get a drop in wind by the time we’re there and the evening light to land by.”
“‘Best Love’ is what we want, then, and since they know my proper name here, the signature will be ‘Richard’. If anyone wants any information about the addressee, Mary Burnand is my married sister and her birthday is on November the twenty-fifth.”
“That certainly is swell,” Rex agreed. “But why’ve you picked on this particular spot?”
“Only because I happen to know it. Some friends of mine had a little villa there one winter and I motored out from Gib. to spend a few nights with them. It was a lovely place; deep sea bathing straight off the rocks any hour you liked one side of the headland and a long, sweeping bay with golden sands where I dug castles for their children on the other. No town nearer than Malaga, about fifteen miles away, and as deserted a piece of shore as you could hope to find, although I expect there are plenty of other bays along that coast which would suit us just as well.”
“Is it in the hands of the Insurgents?”
“No, the Reds. They still hold the coast for about forty miles each side of Malaga but there’s no depth in that pocket of theirs except inland from Malaga itself. The Nationalists are up in the mountains only about five miles from the bay in which we’re going to land, but there’s no fighting going on there now. Franco needs every man he can get for his Madrid oftensive so he can’t spare the troops to mop that pocket up. The line’s held on each side only by pickets every few miles, so I was told when I was motoring up from Gib., and there’s been no traffic on the coast road since Malaga was isolated. We can’t possibly run into any trouble there.”
“Fine. Let’s get the radio off, then.”
They went down to the wireless hut near the airfield and the operator said that he would send it for them with pleasure if Don Baltazar saw it first and raised no objection. The bald-headed, vulture-like Spaniard was in the mess. He understood English and seeing the message was only one of simple birthday greetings, gave his consent to its being despatched.
Rex told de Leon that he meant to put off his flight for a day so that Richard could get a few hours’ bombing instruction and the adjutant agreed that was an excellent plan. On the following morning Richard put in three hours with the sergeant-mechanic and in the afternoon Rex went up for several short flights with von Auerbach in the Flying Sow to practise landings. Richard accompanied them and, lying flat on the lower deck with the sergeant beside him, tried out the theory he had learnt in the morning by picking up objectives from the air.
In the evening Richard went to say good-bye to Jacinto, taking with him the deeds of ownership of the factory which he had found still in his suitcase on his return to Valmojado. He had endorsed them making the place over lock, stock and barrel to the old Carlist who had proved such a staunch friend. As he explained, when he handed them over, they were of little value at the moment but the day must come when Spain would be at peace again, and he hoped that the new owner would live as many years to enjoy the profits of the plant as he had laboured for nights there in secret.
Jacinto was deeply touched by the gift, but his joy in it was a little marred by the thought that in spite of his arduous work and scheming he had failed to protect the gold after all. Nevertheless, Richard succeeded in cheering him up before he left, and went off with the old pirate’s blessings for a safe trip on the morrow.
After dinner Richard sought out the sergeant-mechanic and made him a handsome present for the bombing instruction. He then went to the hangar again and put in another couple of hours’ hard work testing and adjusting the complicated bomb-dropping mechanism of the Flying Sow. When he had done he was confident that he thoroughly understood the principles of the thing and would be able to drop the bombs without any risk to people on the ground.
Next morning was spent in final preparations which mainly consisted of loading the bombs, petrol and oil, and making last-minute tests of the instruments. Rex superintended everything himself and Richard stood by taking in all details of the arrangements; The great five hundred and sixty pound bombs were run out one by one on the trolleys and hoisted by the chain gear into position. Although she was capable of carrying forty-eight, Rex would take only forty, preferring to lighten the machine still further by cutting down her load. The Germans urged him to take her full cargo and less petrol, as he was going only to Madrid and back which was a very short flight, but, as his secret intention was to go very much farther, he pointed out that he might quite probably be chased and intended to run no risks of having to make a forced landing miles away from anywhere through running out of fuel. Eventually they gave way to him and when all was completed the two friends adjourned with their hosts to the mess.
It was only then disclosed that a number of Spaniards and Germans were to accompany them in six fighting planes; a piece of news which they heard with mixed sensations. The fighters would certainly serve to protect them from any Government machines which might get up, but just what would happen when the Flying Sow failed to bomb Madrid and turned south to her real destination was a matter upon which Rex and Richard did not care to speculate. The die was cast and there could be little profit in visualising the Nationalist aviators, furious at having been tricked, endeavouring to force them down and ultimately using machine-guns for that purpose.
After the siesta the entire pers
onnel of the air base and factory assembled on the airfield to witness the start of this unusual venture by the two foreign volunteers. Most of the Spanish and German airmen considered them mad but showed great admiration for their gallantry. Even stripped of all her surplus gear and carrying two tons of bombs less than her maximum capacity, the Flying Sow could not do a greater speed than two hundred miles an hour. The Nationalists had developed an extremely healthy respect for the high-powered Russian planes and their reckless pilots, so privately they did not consider that there was much chance of the Flying Sow getting back to her base unless they could occupy the whole of the enemy squadron which was certain to go up and attack her.
The Flying Sow’s objective was the Atocha station. If she could unload even half the great cargo of explosives on and round the station it was expected the attack would completely wipe it out, and that would prove a really serious blow to the Government as all their supplies from Valencia and Eastern Spain arrived there.
Rex told Ramon de Leon and the German pilot, Fritz von Auerbach, who was to command the accompanying planes, that he intended to climb very high, well up above the first layer of wintry clouds, and fly east for forty miles; he would then sweep right round to the north-east of the city in a wide circle, turn out there so that he would be facing Valmojado again, swoop to plant his bombs and race straight for home. They both approved this plan as excellent air tactics.
Colonel Salvador de Lopez Escandalera shook the two volunteers warmly by the hand and dozens of other people crowded round to wish them luck before they climbed into the big plane. Richard lay down at full length in his station at the bombing apparatus on the lower deck. Rex leant over and said:
“You’re dead certain you’ve got the hang of those controls?”
Yes,” Richard smiled up. “What the devil d’you think I was doing all day yesterday and half last night—learning to knit?”
“Fine, only we’ve got enough explosives under us now to sink a battleship and I don’t want any mistakes.”
The Golden Spaniard Page 43