Central Africa is being plagued by attacks by an African man called Cetezulu and known as 'The Black Elephant'. Air Commodore Raymond sends Biggles and Co. to use their aeroplanes in the hunt to find him. Taking three planes with them, the team lose one when Ginger is caught in a storm, whilst short of fuel, and has to crash land. However, this leads to the unexpected discovery of Cetezulu's secret method of travelling through Central Africa unseen. The team utilises the help of a Masai warrior called Mishu, who was the gun bearer for a Game Warden murdered by Cetezulu. Mishu is saved by Biggles from being murdered by local tribesmen who are also involved in poaching. With the help of Lieutenant Haynes and some soldiers of the King's African Rifles, Cetezulu and his gang are eventually traced to a hiding place in long elephant grass. Here they have hidden almost 500 head of cattle, stolen on various raids. Biggles and Algy use the two remaining aircraft to frighten and stampede the cattle, allowing the soldiers to capture the survivors. Cetezulu pays for his crimes when he meets Mishu, who wants to avenge the death of his employer. The dust cover of the book shows Ginger taking off over some lions, (who unexpectedly lie in his path), whilst he tries to escape from some of Cetezulu's followers.
ranges we should have a nice job to find him, let alone winkle him out," muttered Algy. "It may not be as difficult as all that," argued Biggles. "He couldn't get through the actual forests—certainly not with a herd of cattle. He'd have to follow native paths or game tracks. Naturally, we shall watch them. Have a good look at the map, all of you. It will give you an idea of what we shall be flying over presently if the Elephant continues to push on north. He may not get as far. We may be able to
catch sight of the Elephant, and so he did not notice that the Mosquito had been swung back to cover the swamp. Either by accident or design, Algy and Bertie dropped the tail just as Biggles fired a final burst. The bullets, sweeping low, over the tops of the bamboos, sprayed the area beyond, some of them slashing chips from branches of the very tree in which Ginger was ensconced. Dropping his rifle, he went down the tree even faster than he had climbed it, and made haste to get behind trunk. And
enquired Ginger, looking round. "The enemy took them with him, to save leaving evidence lying about, I imagine," answered Biggles. "He's welcome to them. It saves us a lot of trouble. The Elephant is the man I want. By the way, did you see which way they went? I know they disappeared into the swamp but I didn't see a movement, afterwards. I could see no sign of them from the air." "I'll tell you why you couldn't see them when I've had a drink and found somewhere to sit," promised Ginger. "I
everyone on the airfield. Biggles made a statement to the police, which was corroborated by Ginger. The Puss Moth was put in a hangar to await instructions about its disposal. There the matter ended, officially. But there was no laughing in the bungalow that evening. It may be said here that the mystery of Dr. Allan, F.R.H.S. was never solved. He never returned to civilisation, and a search party sent out later failed to discover a single clue. So Africa added two more to its long line of
course they do—and so word got around of what he was doing, which defeated his object. So some time ago he started travelling light, alone." "I wondered why he had no porters?" murmured Ginger. "It was dangerous," went on Haynes. "Mind you, I wasn't thinking of murder. What I was afraid of was that he'd get hurt taking on a wounded beast. He was quite fearless." "Why did he come here from Juba? Juba is in the Sudan. This is Uganda." "I know. But between ourselves it isn't possible to observe
