The Boy Volunteers with the French Airmen

s ordered to proceed to the Verdun station. Lieutenant Guyon belonged to this part of the force,

some doubts and misgivings, as they were

ed that," said

lfred, who appeared at

ing," shou

things packed and put them in t

of importance to take along. They remarked that it was singular how few things seemed

ntend to start

ve in squadron formation and manoeuver for an hour, and a

re mounted. At the third tap the motors began to hum, and soon there was a movement in the whole line. It was a splendid spe

ng the entire practice until the captain's flag on the great Duperdessun indicated that the machines were free. Af

ility to start the motor made it necessary for them to volplane to the earth. Sighting a considerable town to the left, which was located south of a ca

oozing out during the flight, without giving the first indication until the engines failed. It was just t

ked Alfred, while they were waitin

ll means," replie

drons were the bes

"The different machines are used for various purposes, and whi

things?" a

are better adapted than others for directing artillery

" said Alfred, "and he does

tions, and is used almost wholly in France for di

is machine is good for

put to use for photographing purposes,-that is, most of the

hat?" ask

d; and, second, because it is the most stable machine in flight, the latter

largest ships

ads, and are used as bomb-dropping machines, as their fuselages are especi

of the hangars which had a

," said the lieutenant. "That is used for bombarding captive ballo

tre gun?" rep

a half inch in your measure

the air. "We might take a little trip due east, as far as Toul, and north of that point we may hav

o the west, and, apparently, the same distance from their viewpoint. They thus had the opportunity of seeing, at one glance, two of the most noted rive

on was very great. The sun was still shining brightly when they started from Ligny-en-Barrois, but it was now grow

were coming up, and they appeared to be sweeping toward the e

ed Ralph half to himself, as he looked at the

head, and pointed the mac

right into it!" remarked A

and that the speed of the wind had increased most alarmingly, for, in looking down they seemed to stand still over t

nes. By setting the control lever so as to depress the nose of the machine they rapidly descended, the lever being intermitte

were near Commercy, west of the Meuse, about thirty-five miles south of V

in a rainstor

that was in thunder and lightning, too, which w

bout it!"

nant. "It was in the second week of the war, just east of Rheims, when the Germans were sweeping across the frontier and had

is not noticed as quickly as when on terra firma. The great hosts of Germans interested me intensely, and we kept on until I estimated

t opportunity to determine our speed, or, to state it more accurately, the speed of the wind, f

earth was quickly blotted from sight, and heavy rumblings were heard, but no indications of lightning. I knew that he

ould bring us right into the great German column. There was no rain falling at the time, but the cloud was like the densest mist. The machine was still

The pointer was swinging around violently. The lightning now seemed to be incessant, and the rumbling of the thund

about while all this was

e earth. I did not notice any forked lightning, nor did it show itself in streaks, darting hither and thither. It seemed to be more like balls of fire, sudden

ose we were taking in ample doses of laughing gas, for I assure you that after the first experience, we had no particular sense of danger. It was most fascinat

you in the stor

d a half in the thick of it. During this experience what gave me the queerest feeling was the compass, the needle of which could not be seen, it swung around with such velo

smoothly. I feared to make the next experiment,-that is, to direct the machine toward the earth, for, while everything worked perfectly, I had a feeling that it would be safer to reach the earth with an engine running than with a dead one. Slowly the machine went down;

when you got out of th

eters (about 2,900 feet), as

e the earth?"

gnalled to go up again, and we soon entered the clouds; but during all this time the needle

which way the wind wa

, and at other times against it, but with nothing below to indicate the d

n't see the earth I would know a way to tell

lieutenant, as

an angle, if the wind should be bl

hen you are in a machine in a great wind movement, the ship must move through the wind in one direction or the other at all times so as to keep aloft, hence, whether you are going with or against the wind,

get down?"

the storm was abating. Soon we again passed out of the rain clouds, and the assistant shouted that he had reached the level indicated. 'Go lower,' I shouted

about a half a m

white houses, and I almost shouted for joy. But where could we be? We were passing over a city, a city located within the bend of a large river. I racked my brain to find out where and wh

was swung around; we were now going right into the blinding rain, but we were fifty miles behind the German advance columns, and in order to enable u

f of this we followed the stream for twenty kilometers, and then the forests of Argonne came into sight, thus assuring me of the position. I knew that the army of the Crown Prince was in

turned and shouted: 'We have no petrol.' I crawled back and tested the tank. It was empty. 'Volplane to the south,' I said. It was the only thing I could do. Now that the e

ers, then the barometer registered 250. We both noticed a large, apparently smooth field, and the final volplane began. We landed a hundred feet from a first-line trench, and although the Germans made it hot for us for about fifteen minutes we