The Benson signal., 1917-09-22
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already they could gee 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 village and a
large mine crater.
There were intermittent flashings 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
| Kissing noise a tiny scout dived down
past them, hotly pursued by big Ger
man machine, bristling 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 q 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 a
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 were 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 a
signal. This was no ordinary enemy
patrol. One or two served to relieve
the monotony of life, but fifty was
more than joke. But the leader held
to his course.
With a deep droning Of the engines