No Rest for Biggles, by W. E. Johns

Biggles is sent to investigate the mysterious disappearance of planes flying over Africa and carrying political VIPs. Naturally, he decides that the best way to do this is to fly one himself while pretending a VIP is onboard, with a second plane in radio contact. Within short order, the entire crew is stranded in a jungle in Liberia with two competing groups, one hoping to set up an independent kingdom, and one a group of criminals including von Stalhein.

This was not a favorite of mine but it did have some good bits. Highlights as far as I was concerned:

Bertie gets a fever from infected cuts and has to be hauled around the jungle.

Biggles is absolutely exhausted and going on willpower alone for most of the book.

Biggles spots a sentry who's carelessly left his rifle leaning against a wire fence. In a "whimsical moment" he steals and then ditches it, thinking that'll teach him to be more alert. Later he sees other soldiers giving the sentry an extremely hard time and feels both justified and guilty.

Biggles rescues a wounded enemy and is pretty sympathetic to him in a "I warned you this was a bad idea" way.

Von Stalhein not only does not kill Biggles when he easily could have but suggests that they team up. Just temporarily and for his own convenience, you understand. He also actively saves Biggles' life, supposedly for his own material benefit but come on.

Lots of great animal action, including monkeys, hyenas, and lions.

However. It's a hard call but I would say that this book is even more racist than Biggles in Borneo and Biggles Flies South, my previous contenders for the title. Like those, it has some of the apparently standard bits of Johns cognitive dissonance where he sometimes gets anti-racist ideas and then fails to draw larger conclusions from them. In this book, Ginger sees a man carrying a spear through the jungle, thinks "savage tribesman," then corrects himself with the realization that there's a lot of dangerous wildlife about, any sensible person of any race would carry a weapon, and a spear is a completely reasonable weapon. Unfortunately the entire rest of the book is staggeringly racist.

So, since I don't recommend it on that basis, I have excerpted my favorite part to share. Click to enjoy Biggles swearing at a rhino.

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