WORRALS CARRIES ON

by W. E. Johns

IV. FLYING BLIND (Pages 42 - 56)

Worrals easy manner gives no indication of the nervous tension she feels. Joudrier really does have a flat tyre. He asks Worrals if she is a member of the Green Parrot Club. Worrals says she has never been there until tonight and only then due to an air-raid. Footsteps approach and an airman comes down the road with his kit bag. Worrals offers the airman a lift and tells Joudrier to give her the jack back in the morning. Worrals tells Frecks that she thinks Joudrier waited for them deliberately to find out what they were doing at the club. Returning to camp without a late pass, Worrals and Frecks are potentially in trouble. The duty officer happens to be their friend Bill Ashton. Getting him away from the entrance before Joudrier returns, Worrals tells Bill the whole story and persuades him not to report them for being late as any punishment will restrict their movements in watching Joudrier. The next morning, Worrals is due to take an old Reliant to the aircraft park at Ragworth and bring a new one back. Bad weather prevents her taking off until late afternoon and she takes Frecks with her. They notice that Joudrier is about to take off as well. Taking off first, Worrals and Frecks wait above the mist and then follow Joudrier for a while. They are over the clouds and Worrals notices the wind and suspects they must be over the Channel. A Messerschmitt 109 approaches Joudrier's aircraft and he fires a red flare. The Messerschmitt turns away. They watch a black and white streamer drop from Joudrier’s Reliant but then the Messerschmitt sees them and turns towards them. Worrals tries to fly away but suddenly their engine cuts out. Dropping into the clouds, Worrals is forced to make an emergency landing in a field at the edge of a wood. Worrals says they will have to telephone the adjutant to let him know what has happened and the girls walk until they find a signpost leaning over at a drunken angle. "That's funny," murmured Frecks, "I thought all signposts had been taken away." This one says St. Vance. Worrals says she has never heard of the place. A girl in a shawl appears and Frecks asks her where they are. The girl replies in French, so Worrals asks her in French if they are in France and she is told they are. "The girls looked at each other. Their faces were white. Neither spoke."