THE BOY BIGGLES

by Captain W. E. Johns

NB - IN THIS BOOK BIGGLES IS REFERRED TO AS “JAMES” BUT FOR THE SAKE OF THE STORY SUMMARIES; I HAVE REFERRED TO HIM AS BIGGLES.

VI THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY (Pages 72 - 80)

“Young James Bigglesworth knew a lot about snakes. He had to know. Living where he did it could hardly be otherwise”. “He once saw a boy killed by a krait. He was weeding in the garden. He was struck. He did a strange thing. Perhaps realizing he was doomed he seized the snake and in a fury tore it to pieces with his teeth. So they both died”. On another occasion, Biggles saw a snake kill a dog. One day when at home, an Indian boy called Sula Dowla tells Biggles to come and bring his rifle. He says they can make some money. Sula takes Biggles to the tea estate and in a drainage ditch is an enormous python, the largest snake in India. Biggles “knew of course that the python is not poisonous; that it kills by constriction; that is, by coiling itself round its victim and crushing it to death before swallowing it whole”. Sula wants Biggles to shoot the python for its skin but Biggles refuses to do so. Biggles accidently puts his heel on a rotten tree stump and the stump breaks off throwing his entire weight on the tendon in his calf which snaps. As Biggles lies in agony on the floor, the snake comes out of the ditch and comes towards him but, luckily, just goes past him. Biggles notices from the swelling in the snake’s body that it has already eaten. Biggles has to be carried home on a stretcher. “He walked with crutches for a fortnight and limped for a long time afterwards”.