WORRALS OF THE ISLANDS
First Published in October 1945 - 192 pages
The
original first edition dust jacket showing the original book price of 6
shillings.
WORRALS OF THE ISLANDS
CHAPTERS
Click on any chapter for a summary of the events in that chapter or
see the general story summary below
IV ONE AIRCRAFT FAILED TO
RETURN
Squadron
Leader Marcus Yorke tells Worrals that a dead native
has been found off the coast of Australia with a message written in holes
through a metal tin "Help. Nine British girls .... alive ....island .... south-east Singapore .... Reward this
man". Worrals asks for and is granted permission to try to find the lost
girls. They have some information to start with. It is known that nine girls
set off from Singapore in a bid to escape the Japanese invasion. Flying out to
Darwin, Australia and taking advice from a local fisherman, Billy Maguire, our
heroines fly on to make a base on Ingles Island. From here they plan to
systematically fly over every island in an attempt to find the missing girls.
On one of the islands they search, they find Corporal Harry Timms RAF, a gunner
who has been marooned after his plane was shot down and his pilot killed. Back
on Ingles Island, where the girls have their fuel dump, there are problems. A
Japanese aircraft is forced to land with engine trouble. The three
man crew get onto the island and soon discover our heroes. A shoot out
results in two Japs being killed after their plane crashes as they try to get
away. A third gets on the island and hides out in the crocodile infested mango
swamps. A cry in the middle of the night signals the end of him. Continuing the
search of the islands, Worrals lands and tries to make contact with some
natives. One, called Oke, speaks a form of
pigeon-English and gives the girls some information that may assist. He appears
to indicate that an English speaking Sikh in one of
the islands may have information. Worrals agrees to travel with Oke in his boat to the island of the Maital. This they do
and Worrals meets the Sikh who is called Rama Pindra.
Suddenly the island is attacked by the Japanese in their gunboat Tamaroa.
Sailors land and kill many natives including Oke.
Rama Pindra agrees to take Worrals back to the island
she came from but on the journey they are seen and
approached by the Tamaroa. Meanwhile Frecks and Harry have returned to
Ingles Island, only to find all their petrol burnt. The missing Japanese airman
has not been eaten by crocodiles, but is alive and well, that is, until Harry
shoots him. Now terribly short of fuel, Frecks wonders how she can get back to
meet with Worrals. Harry says there is still fuel in his crashed aircraft so
they fly to the island where Harry was found to transfer the fuel. Later the Tamaroa
arrives and when it leaves Frecks finds a hat with the name 'Pam Deacon' in. It
is known that Pam is one of the missing nine girls. The only conclusion is that
Pam must be in the Japanese ship! Flying back, they are in time to see the Tamaroa
going to intercept Worrals' canoe and with a desperate manoeuvre, Frecks lands
and saves both Worrals and Rama Pindra
before the Japanese get to them. Worrals sends a message by radio to Darwin for
more stores and resolves to find the Tamaroa and try to rescue Pam.
Finding the Tamaroa moored up for the night at an island, Worrals glides
to the other side and lands noiselessly. The plan is to march across the island
and then try to find the best way to get Pam out. However, crossing the
vegetation on the island is easier said than done and it takes until morning to
do it. Our heroes then come across Prince Samurai, the Japanese leader about to
execute two men by beheading. The men are saved and Samurai captured. He is
forced to hand over Pam Deacon and everybody returns to the aircraft. Worrals
refuses to let Samurai be killed, as the British don't kill prisoners and she
lets him go. The two men saved are Dutch, Jan Vandergroot
and his friend Uleet Kleef.
The petrol shortage is now desperate and Worrals returns with everyone to
Ingles Island to await the shipment from Darwin. Pam is able to tell Worrals
where the surviving girls are. Two have died and Pam had tried to fetch help in
a canoe, before being picked up by the Japanese. The petrol arrives in a Walrus
aircraft, which is shot down immediately by a Japanese Zero fighter. All the
petrol is lost and only the pilot, Jimmy Crane is saved. Another signal is sent
to Darwin to ask for more petrol. Worrals thinks she has enough petrol to pick
up the surviving girls and get them back to Ingles Island, this she resolves to
do, only to find herself in a race with the Tamaroa to get to the girls.
Japanese sailors try to land on the island where the girls are marooned, and
they have to be fought off. The weather is getting worse and Worrals knows that
the monsoon season is about to break. The girls are rescued and Worrals get
back to Ingles Island with about a pint of petrol to spare. Expecting the
petrol, it's a shock when a Japanese Misubishi Bomber
flies over Ingles island. Next, Billy Maguire arrives in his boat, the Annie
and he has fuel aboard. The island is bombed by the Japanese and the Annie
is sunk, but not before enough fuel is put into the all important aircraft. Our heroes are able to fly
out and return with everybody to Darwin, Australia.
Click here to see the story illustrations from this
book
French
edition AVENTURES DANS LA MER DE CORAIL (ADVENTURES IN THE CORAL SEA) - there were no illustrations in this
edition
Frontispiece
Click on
the picture below to see it in more detail
Worrals of the Islands
Subtitle - A Story of the War in the Pacific.
Publication Details - published by Hodder and Stoughton