Both boys are intelligent and cunning. Stacey exhibits his ingenuity by spearheading a "well-maneuvered revenge" against their tormentors who use them as a source of entertainment. When the "school bus" caused the children to "land in the slime of the gully", Stacey planned a successful trap that would prevent the same kind of accident from happening "for a long while." He "directed Little Man and Christopher- John to each take two buckets." Stacey used his resourcefulness to ensure that a lack of shovels would not cause a problem to their plan. He was also clever enough to use the rainy weather as a facade that the "road could've been washed away like that" when actually it was a man-made...