"Algy stood beside the Camel and watched the Halberstadt until it disappeared from sight. 'Those soulless hounds at the Air Board need boiling in oil for sending a fellow like Biggles on a job like this,' he muttered huskily. 'Still, I suppose it's what they call war,' he added, as he climbed slowly into his cockpit."
--Biggles Flies East
Possibly the only time during the entire war that Algy really got emotional.
Unlike Biggles, Algy wasn't really what we might describe as "sensitive". He got angry, and then he shot things or bombed things, but his emotions rarely depressed him or put too much strain on his nerves. That's what makes the quote above so amazingly special. He would never say as much to Biggles' face, of course, but it shows just how deeply he cares.
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If you haven't read Flies East before, definitely try to get your hands on a copy. It's plain and simple Biggles and Algy, when both were young and naive and in their prime, and there are some great great bits showing just how strong the bonds of friendship were between them.
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Flies East. You could have added the preceding paragraph(except of course it isn't a quote) "Their hands met in a firm grip, the only time during the whole war that either of them allowed their real feelings to get uppermost".
ReplyDeleteMind you, next chapter, when Biggles thinks Algy is dead, his feelings get pretty 'uppermost'.
I am sure they both cared deeply - they had been flying together for so long (in WWI terms). Bonds of friendship forged in the danger and uncertainties of war.
I re-read this a few months back. It still stands up as a terrific book, simple as that.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have put it better myself
ReplyDeleteThe whole book is written from Biggles' perspective of course, but I can't feeling that Algy must have had some adventures of his own that were not written about--not to mention how hard it must have been on him to go out to the oasis every day knowing that one of the days Biggles might not come. When Biggles was captured by the Arabs Algy talks about how Raymond "nearly threw a fit" but makes no mention of what he himself felt about it!
ReplyDeleteThere's a long paragraph in Flies East where Biggles nearly goes to pieces after he thinks he has shot down Algy, but I think that Algy himself must have lost several nights of sleep thinking about how he really did shoot down Biggles, even though he doesn't say very much about it to Biggles' face (in the same way that Biggles doesn't talk about his breakdown).
And yes SA, you're right. The moment when they shook hands and let their feelings get uppermost was one of the best sentences in all of the books. Sadly it's not a quote so I didn't put it in :(