Bisbee daily review., 1917-05-27

With this re-enfOrcement reducing the odds against her to two to one, she executed a maneuver which her su- perior' speed had made feasible through giving her tOlerably long lead. wheeled figuratively on her heel-that Is, in as narrow a circle as the biplane could compass-and gave battle. Handling the machine gun emplaced beside her, the observer opened fire at long range. as soon as he could bring the weapon to bear, and scored first blood by winging one of their two antagonists so severely that he was forced to abandon the combat and de- scend for repairs.
 The other proved more elusive and stout-heaIted. Driven with superb skill, it danced through the air with apparently as little stability as midge. making itself a target we'll nigh as fugitive as a mote in sun beam.
 Belt after belt of ammunition was | fed by Patria's observer into his ma chine gun and wasted on empty air, thanks to the evasiveness of the Jap | anese.
 That the latter had no better luck in scoring off Patria's plane was little satisfaction. There was only room for exasperatlOn in the minds of the | Americans, that the end must be so long delayed-aside from the settled | determination that weighed upon their senses with the power of obsession | that the duel could and should end but one way-with the extermination | of their opponent
 | Providing that were accomplished, and assuming that the other American biplane was similarly successful in the contest now raging between it and the Japanese, something like a thousand | feet below them, the hostile air fleet would be rather effectively crippled l judging by the number of planes which it had thus far discovered-and the disparity between the forces of invasion and defense would, by that much at least. be reduced.
 And yet-moment after moment passed without either side scoring a crippling hit. The planes of both were fairly riddled by the streams of bullets they exchanged; Patria's ob- server had suffered a slight flesh wound in the shoulder. She herself had , repeatedly felt the wind of bullets winging past her face-as though the i icy tongue of Death were licking it.
 As for the other side. there was reason to believe. from what they could see, that the pilot was nursing a wounded hand. But this had not served to discourage him. He pursued his ef- forts to enable his observer to deal Patria's craft a mortal blow with un- abated grimness. skill and cunning.
 Then, of sudden. it was mani fested that the store of ammunition at the command of the Japanese had run out. He fired one final gust of bullets, then in a twinkling abandoned the field. dropping almost headlOng from that high level whereon they had fought.
 With no more notion or mercy in her humor than she would have felt had the Japanese been a tiger-shark, Patria tore down the air lanes in pur- suit, the planes of her machine at times so steeply inclined that they seemed weli-nigh vertical. Only the most consummate mastery of the art of flying could have made such feat possible.
 And then, in a twin1ling. it was all over. They were dropping like twin plummets. the Japanese airplane some two hundred feet below Patria's and a little distance to one side. The ob- server, training his weapon with the greatest coolness, ran his last belt of cartridges through the machine in one last roaring blast-and scored.
 The Japanese plane seemed momen- | tarily to be mysteriously checked In midflIght. It hung for little as if checked by the grasp of some great, | invisible hand. Then. as if that hand ! were slowly closing upon 1t. the thing i crumpled like a broken toy-crumpled | pitifully in upon itself and fell flutter- ing aimlessly, turning over and over | with ever increasing rapidity. and | throwing off two limp. sprawl!ng shapes of men that distanced it to the ! earth. whirling horribly.
 With supreme effort Patria lighted ! her machine. brought it to an even | keel. and steadied it upon a homeward ! course.
 Only fixed refusal to permit herself | to think of what had happened en- obIad ber ro ac.omnlish this She wnS | afflicted with violent inclination to | nausea. Of all forms of death. for the | time being, this seemed to her the | most terrible-this death of violence | in midair which she had savagely l dealt out to the enemies of her cOun- l try.
 But what was needed to restore her | nerves to their normal steadiness was | presently accorded by the enemy hirD' |