The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1917-09-28

"O//IC |C|S ZC/IC %LSOT| CI</S [NESI
already they could see through the
morning haze the country below them
swarming with khaki-clad men.
There were puffs of smoke in the air
and the deep thud of the bursting
shells from the anti-aircraft guns.
They could see the lines now. Not
square inch of the ground seemed
free from shell holes, and to the right
were the remains of a village and a
| large mine crater
There were intermittent flashlngs Of
the guns on either side of the broad
brown belt which divided the enemies
Bang! Bang! Bang" three shells
| burst unpleasantly close to the leader,
and he heard the tearing sound of
Shrapnel through his planes. warm
work." he said to himself as he saw
that one of his spars was shot away.
The other machines seemed undam-
aged, and once they were well over
the lines all firing ceased. No doubt
the guns were being mounted on lorries
and taken further back to get another
shot at them.
Below them were the heavy French
machines carrying out reconnaissance
work, and they could see above them
on each side French and English air
planes of all types and sizes. With
Il Kissing noise tiny scout dived down
past them, hotly pursued by big Ger
man machine, bristlng with guns. But
the five machines steadily pursued
their own course. This was not their
area, and they had their own work to
do.
In a few minutes they had reached
their destination. For the next two
hours they would patrol that area
marked out for them on the map, wait
ing for the Huns, who would certainly
try to drive them away. But for the
moment they had leisure to look
around them. To the right they could
see four French machines making for
home. Probably they were on their
way back from a bombing raid. Then
there came the sound Of firing imme-
diately behind them. One of the pa
troll was being attacked by stubby
little German scout machine, which
was diving at him from behind. The
leader banked sharply around and,
climbing steeply, made straight for the
enemy. But the stubby German on
seeing another opponent turned for
home at the top of his speed.
The leader looked around to see
what had happened to his companion.
His engine was missing badly. He
seemed in trouble, but he was contin-
uing his duties. And other things were
happening,
A True Shot
Two Hun machines were passing |
thousand feet below them. An Eng |
lish machine dived at them. One start
ed for earth, but the other showed |
fight. BY a clever maneuver he had !
just got behind his opponent when the |
leader dived into the scene of action. |
He came up close before he opened !
fire, and then with his third shot hit |
the enemy in the petrol tank. 1t burst
out in flames and fell to earth.
He looped the loop to show his pleas
ure,
"That was a good shot" he said to
himself as he turned and counted the
patrol There were only four alto
gether. One had turned home through |
engine trouble. They kept close to-
gether, and for about half an hour all
went peacefully and well. Their en-
gines We're running perfectly, and the
morning air acted like balm on their
souls. The occasional sounds of firing
did not disturb them. Then in the dis
tance they saw great cloud of ma
chimes approaching from the east, and
each man looked to the leader for
signal. This was no ordinary enemy
patrol. One or two served to relieve
the monotony of life, but fifty was
more than a joke. But the leader held
to his course.
With deep droning of the engines