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.

X THE BLACK INTRUDER (Pages 120 - 132)

“Hunters and naturalists have long argued about the panther. Some aver that the leopard and the panther are one and the same creature”. Johns then tells us about panthers. “If Satan has a counterpart on earth surely this is it. There is one in the London Zoo. If ever you are there have a good look at it. Catch those hate-filled eyes and notice the way he flattens his ears and lifts a lip in a snarl to show those gleaming white fangs. He as good as tells you that were it not for those iron bars he would tear you to pieces and love to do it”. One day, when Biggles is in the garden, he sees Habu Din going out to get honey in the bharbar “(this is the belt of jungle that divides the plains from the high ground)”. Biggles goes with him and takes his rifle. They go to a mulberry tree in a fairly open glade and find a gory mess of blood and feathers that had once been a peacock. As the boys prepare to make smoke under the bees nest, silence falls. There is a piercing shriek and Biggles says that something has killed a monkey. The boys decide to leave, but there is a low rasping snarl from somewhere near. “James stood his ground. He knew it was the best thing to do”. Nothing happens at first and then a jet black animal springs – a black panther! Habu climbs a tree and the panther goes after him. Biggles shoots at it and again as it climbs the tree after Habu. The panther falls. Biggles then puts a bullet behind its ear straight into the panther’s brain. “James contemplated the panther, a picture of feline perfection. “What a beautiful creature,” he said sadly. “Pity I had to shoot it”. Biggles says they can call in at the plantation and tell the men what lies here as one of them might like the skin. “It seems a pity to let it lie here to rot”. “Don’t you want it?” asks Habu. “Me? No. It would give me a fright every time I looked at it”.