High Adventure

said Talbott, as he came into the me

heumatism. His active service days are over. Tiffin's working hours are filled with numberless duties. He makes the beds, and serves food f

e balloonatics. Virtue has gone into both of you. Now, if you can make fire come out of a Boche sausage, you will ha

ons along the sector extending from X to Y. The patrols to be furnished are: (1) two patrols of protection, of five avions each, by the escadril

dezvous over the village of C--. At 10.45, precisely, they will start for the lines, crossing at an altitude of thirty-five hundred metres. The patrol furnished by Spa. 87 will guard the sector from X to T, between the town of O-- and the two enemy

ect line for the balloon assigned to it. Numbers 1 and 2 of each of these patrols will carry rockets. Number 3 will fly immediately above them, offering further protection in case of attack by enemy aircraft. Number 1 of each patrol will first attack the balloon. If he

re noon to-day, of the names of pilots desi

commanders will be informed of the date

m the usual patrol duty from this date. They will employ their time at rocket shoo

ott, as if he had been reading the

. "When is the u

. The commandant knows, and he isn'

ld like to know which o

ow would you like to b

nning as if the frenzy of balloonati

nicians about fitting your machines for roc

ening with interest

. You won't hear it, but they will all be saying, 'Bravo! épatant!' I've been there. I've seen it and I know.

But the effect on the infantrymen is the important thing. Boche soldiers, thousands of them, will see one of their balloons coming down in flame. They will be saying, 'Where are our airmen?' like those old poilus we met at the s

er by four, our conclusion was that, as a result of the expedition, the length of the war and its outcome might very possibly be affected. At any r

ld miss our sausage?

I don't remember what the instru

, number 3 will attack the observers. The patrol will

be made for one failure, but two-the po

say to his pilots, "Well, you young bucks, you would-be airmen: thought it would be all sport, eh? You might have known. It's your own fault. Now go out and attack those balloons. It's possible that you may have

made on the observers when they had jumped with their parachutes. It seemed as near the

rom five to ten minutes for him to reach the ground after he has jumped. You can come

oying the balloon, he would force me to attack the observers. When I a

tumn leaves and such field-flowers as the season affords. Now, listen! What difference, ethically, is there, between attacking one observation officer in a parachute, and dropping a ton of bo

t that didn't make the pros

y were launched. Under one of these, "Spa. 124" was printed, neatly, in red ink. It was the farthest distant from our lines of the four to be attacked, and about ten kilometres within German-held territory. The cable ran to the outskirts of a village situated on

first. The German positions were in a salient, a large corner, the line turning almost at right angles. We could cross th

st side, we will pass over batteries which didn't see us come in. If there should happen to be an east wind, there will be another reason in f

ed with a button inside the car, within easy reach of the pilot. Lieutenant Verdane, our French second-in-command, was to supervise our practice on the field. We were glad of this. If we failed to "spear our sausage," it would not be through lack of efficient instruction. He explained to Drew how the thing was to be done. He was to come on the balloon into the wind, and preferably not more tha

was hard to judge accurately the moment for diving. Sometimes we overshot the target, but more often we were short of it.

e climbed through a heavy mist which lay along the ground like water, filling every fold and hollow, flowing up the hillsides, submerging everything but the crests of the highest hills. The tops of the twi

o exploding on lower ground, for we saw the mist billow upward time after time with the force of mighty concussions, and slowly settle again. It was an awe-inspiring sight. We might have been watching the last battle of

been seen from the ground. It was an opportunity made in heaven, an Allied heaven. "But the infantry would not have seen it," said J.

s, when Talbott came across the field, followed solemnly by W

nybody know?" he as

n agile-mi

e umteenth b

s now ten past ten. You have half an hour. Better get

the best one, I think. If we had been told

e. At 10.35, Irving, Drew, and I were strapped in our machines, wait

ey. "Atta boy, Whiskey! E

ething to be profoundly thankful for in the commander of an escadrille de chasse. Situations are dramatic enough, tense enough, without one's taking thought of the fact. He might have stood there, watch in hand

. We're having lunch at twelve. That will g

up with a toothbrush and a safety-razor case. He stood waving them as I taxied around into the wind. His purpose was to rem

tres distance. Irving was two hundred metres higher. Before we left the field he said: "You are not to think about Germans. That's my job. I'll warn you

were carrying out their part of the programme, which was to register on enemy anti-aircraft batteries as we passed

the sector. Following it along with my eyes to the halfway point, I saw the red roofs of the village which we had so often looked at f

upward in clouds of black oily smoke. Drew signaled with his joy-stick, and I knew what he meant: "Hooray! two down! It's our tu

of the observers. They had jumped. The balloon disappeared from view behind Drew's machine. It was being drawn down, of course, as fast as the motor could wind up the cable. It was an exciting moment for us. We were coming on at two hundred k

keep it in view. I lost it under my wing. Tipping up on the other side, I saw Drew release his rockets. They spurted out in long wavering lines of smoke. He missed. The balloon lay close to the ground, looking larger, riper than ever. The sight of its smooth, sleek surface was the most tantalizing of invitations. Letting it pass un

lamp was on the table between the two cots. Drew was sitting propped up, his fur coat rolled into a bundle for a back-rest. He had a sweater, ti

incense from

ight for heaven

rom a choice reserve of picturesque epithets which I did not know

sure that I had brought it down. Then I banked and nearly fell out of my seat when I saw it there. I redress

id you

It was a great sight to watch from below, particularly when you let go your rockets. I'll

to escape the burst of flame from the ignited gas. The rockets leaped out, with a fine, blood-stirring roar. The mere sound ought to have been enough to make any balloon collapse. But when I turned, there it

ly in place. We were cautioned always to carry them where they could be quickly got at in case of a forced landing in enemy country. An airman must destroy his machine in such an event. But my Spad did not mean to end its career so ingloriously. The motor ran beautifully, hitting on every cylinder. We climbed from two hund

rockets. He waited until he made sure that I was following, then started for the west side of the salient. I did not see him, because of my interest in those clouds of b

-aircraft fire was again feeble and badly ranged. The shells burst far behind and above, for I was much too low to offer an easy target. This gave me a dangerous sense of safety, and so I tipped up on one

ilots the knowledge comes too late to be of service. I thought this was to be my experience, when, looking up, I saw five combat machines bearing down upon me. Had they been enemy planes my chances would have been very small, for they were close at hand before I saw them. The old French aviator, worn out by his five hundred hours of flight over the trenches, said, "Save your nervous energy." I exhau

nt barely forty minutes. Climbing out of my machine at the aerodrome, I looked at my watch. A quarter to twelve. Laign

k next time. The group bagged two out of four, and Irving knocked down a B

We had forced ours down, but it bobbed up again very soon afterward. The one-o'clock patrol saw it, higher, Miller said,

lee

didn't answer. He closed t

it is. They ought to put y

thought. Looking in a

tle old human dynamos;