The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-05-23

often happened there were no witnesses and moth
ing to confirm his success from official point of
view In the afternoon he went up again, and.
by no means discouraged with his mornings ex-
perience, he went TO look for the enemy in the
neighborhOod of the reservoir.
He was not long in appearing. Souler soon saw
in his path an albatross biplane with three NIL
tralleuses Following his usual tactics, SOulier
dropped from the altitude in which he was fly
ing always very high, and swiftly pursued the
enemy. The albatross sought to escape from at
tack but was Overtaken by a light charge and
fell spreading itself out the earth and taking
fire The deed was done, but again the pilot look
ed about him for spectators who might supply the
confirmation necessary to his official recognition
Unfortunately again there was no one who had
seen his triumph.
Soulier however hardly had time to indulge
in bitter reflections before a new danger and
new opportunity presented itself.
Some kilometers further on he perceived mag
niffcent observation balloon, lighted by the rays
of the setting
Where the Drachens are there are also the
bursts of shrapnel and toward the middle of these
clouds of black smoke SOulier guided his machine,
carrying it through the marvellous evolutiOns OF
which he is master. Again fate was against him,
for as he fired his twentieth cartridge his mi
traiIleuse stopped, and there nothing for the
pilot to do but to return to his camp.
Turning with the object OF making for home
quarters, Souer saw himself beset by new enc
mics.
Two thousand meters above his hea0 1Our en-
envy airplaneS circled.
One of them at full speed and at 200
meters opened fire him.
1t is at such moments these that the aero
batic flyer finds himself at the height of his glory
With every nerve taut with every bit of skill
in play he turns twists and circles his
way out of such difficulties, and when he
comes through them successfully tastes for a
moment a glory almost unknown to other men.
a slide down the wing loop, then ali The ga
NUT of beautifully executed maneuvers-wfrose
most valuable quality is their faculty OF keeping
the enemy guessing where the machine will be in
the next secondhand SOulier had succeeded in
showing his heels to the enemy. Then guiding
himself with one hand and repairing his mitraiI-
leuSe with the other, while at the same time he
continued his series of acrobatics SoulIier winged
his way to the French lines, succeeding in throw
ing off the first and then another of his ad-
verSarieS.
To complete his mischance his motor weakened.
He had only one resource-to do the death DROP
He let himself fall in sprals, and the Bosches
believing that he had been sent down. beat their
wings as if in dance of JOY
Then suddenly the dead" French aviator right
ed himself, began to arm his mitrailleuse
and with last shot at his enemy regained his
lines. able at last to say "alone."
The tolls and dangers of this terrible day had
counted for nothing, however, the official rec
ord of the young aviator, but the following day,
although his activities were by no means so, con-
tinuOus, to bring him the substantial recogni-
ton that every war aviator longs for.
By the same bright star that of the day be-
fore he started a morning flight passing rapid-
~ over the enemy trenches. Presently perceiving
a D. F. W. scout machine he attacked it vigor-
ously
In these single cOmbats in which only two ma
chimes take part the fight is usually very soon
over. In three minutes the enemy had been beat
en-, the machine fell in flames and the two avfa-
tors were crushed the ground. On this occa-
sion observers in a balloon and some infantry
troops had been able to follow the duel and re-
ported official confirmation so eagerly desired
That very night at the Bonne-Maison farm in a
champagne.