The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1917-07-25
Maybe He's Modest.
can't understand It,"

C0u VuUCIOIduU LIE
"WhatT"
Hes been working at his present
job for two months now and doesn't
claim that his pay has been raised
three times already"
With this reinforcement reducing
the odds against her to two to one, she
executed a maneuver which her su-
perior speed had made feasible through
giving her a tolerably long lead.
wheeled ~fguratively on her heel-that
is. in as narrow q 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 a. he could bring
the weapon to bear, and scored first
blood by winging n Of their two
antagonists 10 severely that he was
forced to abandon the combat and de-
scend for repairs.
The other proved more elusive and
st0ut-hearted. Driven with superb
skin, it danced through the air with
apparently as little stability al .
nudge, making itself a target we'll
nigh % fugitive as q mote In . u
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 e~vasiveness Of the Jap
anese.
That the latter had no better luck
IN scoring Of Patria's plane was little
satisfaction. There was only room
for evaporation In the minds Of the
Americans, that the end must be 80
long deli ed-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 determination
Of their opponent.
Providing that were accomplished,
and assuming that the other American
biplans was similarly successful In the
contest now raging between II and the
Japanese. something like . thousand
feet below them. the hostile air feet
would Be rather effectively crippled
judging By the numAef Of planes
which It had thus far discoveeed-and
the disparity between the forces Of
invasiQq and defense would. BY that
much at least. Be reduced.
And yet-moment after moment
passed without either side scoring q
Gripping hit. The. planes Of both
were fairly riddled by the streams Of
bullets they exchanged; Patria's o.
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
icy tongue Of Death were licking 1t.
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 a sudden, it vas mani
tested that the store Of ammunition at
the command Of the japanese had run
out. He fired one 1naf 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 of mercy in
her hnmOr 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 well-nigh vertical. Only the
most consummate mastery Of the art
of flying could have made such a feat
possible.
And then. in a twinkling, it was all
over. They were dropping like twin
the japanese airplane some
two hundred feet below Patria's and
a little distance to one side. The OBJ
server, training his weapon with the
GOODNESS, ran his last belt
cartridges through the machine in