GIMLET BORES IN
Book First Published on 23rd October 1950* - 192 pages
* This information is taken from a letter
from A. P. Watt & Son to W. E. Johns in my collection
I believe this Gimlet book was never serialised elsewhere. If anybody knows differently then please E-MAIL ME
The first edition dust jacket showing the original price of 6
shillings
Meeting
up at the Ritz again, Gimlet tells Cub, Copper and Trapper that he has been
asked by a Government department to rescue a man from a medieval fortress in
Eastern Europe. The man is Muraz Ismit,
known as Ismit Pasha, of Turkish nationality, until
recently a member of the Turkish Government. A keen yachtsman, Pasha has been
shipwrecked on the Caucasian coast. Intelligence reports have revealed that he
is now a prisoner in the ancient fortress of Kalashan.
Gimlet says he will be using
Bigglesworth again to fly them out in a flying boat and Biggles duly does so,
appearing on pages 21 to 23 (yet another 'Biggles' book?). Gimlet and his three men use their
dinghy to paddle ashore and are soon marching inland through strangely deserted
countryside. They see a man executed in front of his family by Russian
Cossacks. Eventually they find the huge fortress, built of solid rock, with
walls 50 or 60 feet thick. The fortress is out on a high pillar with a small
rock path, like a causeway, the only access to the entrance and this is
guarded. It is clearly a daunting prospect as to how they are going to get in.
Hiding up in the trees, to observe the fortress, Cub realises they are by a
gallows as he can see a corpse hanging there. Shortly afterwards, a man is
brought out from the fortress to be hanged. Suddenly there is a rescue attempt
by wild looking men. The Cossacks from the fort fight back and soon our heroes
find themselves in the path of the battle and are forced to retreat with the
bandit rescuers. Fighting back against the Cossacks soon makes our heroes
popular and they get to meet the man who was to be hanged to find that not only
does he speak English but that he claims to be British! This meeting is
depicted on the cover of the book. The man is Alexander Gregorovitch
McAlister who is soon nicknamed MacGreggo. He leads a
band of rebels fighting against the governor of the fort, a man called Vladimir
Karzoff, a Russian general. Gimlet decides to take MacGreggo into his confidence and MacGreggo
offers his help and support. A plan is drawn up to get inside the fort. Firstly
one of MacGreggo's men has to substitute himself into
a work party to make contact with a guard called Yakoff.
The guard will then be paid to pull up a rope after our heroes have scaled the
rock the fortress stands on. This climb is easier said than done, particularly
at night, but Cub is the first person to climb a rope and get into the
fortress. Here, he is immediately captured but he manages to shout a warning to
the others that it is a trap. Cub is taken before Karzoff
and expects to be executed. However, he is astonished to be released and not
only that, he is released with Ismit Pasha! This is
done for a very large bribe. Meanwhile, Gimlet, has made arrangements to attack
and try to rescue Cub. Gimlet has heard that some armoured cars were due to
come and take Ismit Pasha away the following morning
and he arranges an attack on the cars. Reinforcements from the fortress, lead by Karzoff, leave the
fortress open to attack and Copper leads such an attack on it. All prisoners
are released and the wooden buildings inside the fort set alight. Cub is able
to meet up with firstly Copper and then Gimlet and get him to call off the
attack on the armoured cars as Ismit Pasha is already
safe. Karzoff is believed to be killed when an
armoured car he is in goes over the cliff path edge. Gimlet asks MacGreggo if he wishes to return to his homeland of
Scotland and he agrees to go. His band of rebels will have to retreat to
the hills to avoid Russian retaliation in any event. Our four heroes, together
with Pasha and MacGreggo return to the coast and the
hidden dinghy. They then have
to avoid the searching troops in order to rendezvous with Biggles, who returns
at a pre-set time in order to collect them. Both Biggles and Ginger appear in
the final couple of pages of the book.
Click here to see the story illustrations from this book
Gimlet Bores In
Subtitle - A King of the Commandos Adventure.
Publication Details - originally published by Brockhampton
Press Ltd.
Frontispiece
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Click on the Paperback above to find out all about the GIMLET
Armada paperbacks and see the many DIFFERENT illustrations in them