New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-14


back was the head of supply train. To the
left behind him the sky was getting brighter.
The sun had come.
He looked around him. The suns brilliant
circle rose slowly above the horizon. Lights
played along the steel cylinders of the motor
The earth beneath was sinking into shadow
For some moments he saw nothing but the
shimmering sheaf Of rays lowering over the
grayish earth surface. II was a picture Of
magical beauty.
Now the landscape appears again-rcsts
and fields. He looked at his watch. They had
been already quarter of an hour under way;
soon they must reach the village of C. He
glanced ahead There it was, coming nearer
and nearer. For two or three minutes it lay
beneath him, with ruined streets and empty
marketplace. Then it vanished to the rear.
The nearer they got to the dividing line
between friend and foe the fewer German
troops were to be seen. The positions were
cleverly concealed. The pioneers must have
worked marvellously the night before. His
trained eye, reinforced by an exceptional sense
of location, recognized, in spite Of the tniness
Of the outlines, every detail of the country,
every alteration in the military dispositions.
every alteration in the military dispositions.
Now came a dark-yellowish oak wood. Wege.
haupt took his marker and peeped under. Two
hundred metres from the edge of the wood he
recognized little groups Of crawling men
machine gun detachments which were getting
into their positions. The place seemed well
selected, since it commanded the country for
considerable distance. Against that position
certainly no French offensive would succeed
Wegehaupt wondered why they had attract
ed no hostile fire. The sky was somewhat
clouded and the double-decker carried motor
mufler; yet If the enemy looked sharp he mus.
already have detected them.
The altitude recorder showed 800 metres.
To cruise at that moderate height over hostile
country without some special necessity was
foolhardiness. Wegehaupt turned TO Stefeck
and called; Higher"
Steffeck understood and nodded. Slowly the
indicator rose.
The wind changed toward the north and BE-
came stronger. Wegehaupt glanced at the
pathfinder compass at his left. They had 10
tack almost 20 degrees out of the compass
course in order to neutralize the force Of the
wind.
The clouds ahead of them began to scatter.
In some places the deep blue Of the heaven
shone through. They were now about 1900
metres high.
Suddenly he saw, through one Of the blue
spaces, monoplane circling far away. Il
must be French machine. Wegehaupt took
Up the field glasses Yes it was a Deperdus-
in. There to the west the sky seemed TO Be
learer, for the pilot sgnalled TO the command
'elow with series Of smoke discharges. The
was again hidden behind a cloud
Almost at the same moment something ratified
eneath them. 1t was infantry fire. Some bull
cts whistled about their ears.
Wegehaupt turned to Steffeck
Its begun" he said
Above the earth a series Of white powder
louds fioated, slowly dissolving. Stefeek
teered upward. They must get out Of the
ange OF those crazy infantry bullets.
Now, to make matters worse, machine gun
cyan to rattle. Ping Pingl One OF the steel
DDS snapped. The lower left plane also
bowed hit.
Praise be TO God! Things still went vel. 4
70 other bullets reached them. They had
assed the first line Of the enemy's intrench.
ents. Wegehaupt had noted their position
nd compared 1t with the photographs and TIE
acing on the maps.
a whitish cloud passed under them and co..
aled them from the enemy. But h pul I
op to Wegehaupt's observations.