"‘What did you want to land ‘ere for? Ain’t it bad enough upstairs?’ snorted the Tommy. ‘Life won’t be worth livin’ ‘ere in ‘arf a minute, when they start puttin’ the kybosh on your aeroplane.’
‘I didn’t land here because I was pining to see you, so don’t get that idea,’ grinned Biggles. ‘Where are we—that’s what I want to know.’
‘About in the middle, I should think,’ growled the Tommy.
‘Middle of what?’ asked Biggles.
‘The war, of course!’ was the reply.”
--Biggles, Pioneer Air Fighter
Lovely dialogue :-)
ReplyDeleteWEJ at his best in most of the WWI stories.
Yes, an example of the more adult tone of the earlier stories.
ReplyDeleteBiggles isn't often bantering like this unless it's with someone like Algy or Wilks. It's nice to see him cheerful despite the circumstances. "Finds his feet" is also a touching story because Biggles does everything he can to keep his promise to the Tommy (won't give too much away here, in case someone hasn't read it).
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