Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-02-10

to renew the advance. The barrage of the British guns was heavy, but at l close quarters only infantry can stop lsthe progress of infantry, and the fire ] from the British shell holes had grown
 weak and struggling. It looked as lf
 the scanty British line would be over-
 whelmed by sheer weight of numbers.
 Alive With Bullets.
 The fire from the Germans increas-
 ed until the air was alive with their bullets. 1t was the concentrated fire
 which always precedes the rush to
 close quarters. Ihe blue-gray figures
 were already beginning to appear
 the shell holes, their loose Tapping
 uniforms and h1deous gas masks glv- ing them the appearance of demons,
 when suddenly Into the smoke ana
 murk of battle there divcd a British lairpIane.
 Fifty feet from the ground it flat ground, dropping it's bombs among the
 bewiiGEared Germans. Wheeling swift
 ly at the flank of the attack, it came
 skimming back like swallow charg- ing swarm of flies, it's machine guns
 enfilading the advancing foe and driv- ing him back to his burrows.
 A storm of German bullets swept through the planes, and black flame
 centered burst o1 enemy sharpenel
 smothered the airoplane in vapor. The
 watching infantry saw splinters fall
 from it's quivering frame and the sll-
 very fabric of the underwings was torn
 in several places by shell splinters. But
 the daring pilot finished his course
 and vanished into the smoke clouds,
 leaving the pane stricken enemy cling
 ing to his shell holes too shaken and thlnned to press the attack further.
 Little by little, however, the German
 supports came up, advancing by short
 rushes over the open, reinforcing their comrades by twos and threes in spite of British fire. Scores and scores of 1 their dead filtered No Mans Land but gradually the strength of the attack ing line was made good, and the shell holes again began to heave and boil, as men rose from the lower cover and l laid hold of the rims to assist them over the top. Again Steps Rush Then suddenly they were over and away, little spurts ot humanity belch- ed out of the crater field, coalescing in- to seething blue-gray, rushing mass, hopelessly outweighing the handful of British defenders. But before the mass could gain full momentum, familiar snoring hum sounded above the din of battle, and out of the low-lying haze swept the covering airplane, new ma chine but with the same pilot as be fore. His bombs dropped among the l advancing Germans, dispersinp those who escaped the flying fragments, and his machine guns swept them out of ] sight into the shell holes. A half-hour passed, and again the enemy attempted to attack, this time jhesitatingly and With diminishing spirit. Again the airplane appeared, 1 and the first rattle ot his guns sent the Germans into cover again. A Ger man airplane dashed down to drive him away, but another British machine 1 from the protecting patrol came down on the Germans tail and sent him cartwheeling behind this own lines There were other German machines in 1 the offing but the watchful British lighters made the enemy airmen shy of losing their altitude and the daring British ->ilot kept his guard over the threatened line without further inter- ference.
 Many times he swept down on the Germans that day, crumpling up every attempted attack with his fire, render ing portions of their positions unten- able with bombs; often rocking madly . in the air gusts fro ma barrage salve, just as often performing wilder ma- noeuvers to confuse the gunners and i riflemen who searched for him inces- | sanity. Three times his airplane was so badly damaged that he had to nurse I it's failing strength back to his aero {. drome. But each. time he returned on a new machine, encouraging the Brit ish infantry by his example, and scat Iterng death and confusion among their foes Il He was flying his fourth machine when darkness settled down, putting an end to the conflict, with the Ger Emans securely checked.