BIGGLES GOES TO SCHOOL

by Captain W. E. Johns

III. BIGGLES HITS BACK (Pages 28 - 44)

"In the weeks that followed Biggles settled down to the general routine of his new life. He had many unhappy days, but none as miserable as the first. In class and on the playing fields he found he was no worse than the majority of the boys at school, and better than some. This knowledge brought a degree of self-confidence". Biggles and his friend, Smith, both fear and dislike Hervey and Hervey’s friend, Brickwell, although the situation is more an armed truce than open hostility. On taking regular country walks, Biggles befriends a woman in the community who has a cave in her garden and she lets him play there. When Hervey's bullying takes a sinister turn, by him demanding a penny from them as a form of extortion, Biggles makes an attempt at retaliation when he and Smith buy a cannon ball and paint it grey to make it look like the tennis ball. The plan is to put it out in front of Hervey and when he kicks it, he'll break his foot. However, this stunt goes wrong when Biggles' teacher, Mr. Bruce, kicks the cannon ball instead. “Mr. Bruce limped for a week, but the reason was never disclosed”. The bullying continues so Biggles decides to fight Hervey and Brickwell with sticks and stones rather than fists and also gets the other boys to pelt them with conkers. Hervey and Brickwell are forced to retreat and it soon becomes a rout. "After that, while there was plenty of scowling, there was no more bullying as far as Biggles and Smith were concerned". "It was Biggles' destiny to win more battles later on, but it is unlikely that any of them gave him as much satisfaction as this one".