Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-28

| Everything went along lovely, and |
stayed in my allotted position quite
| easily while we climbed to 5000
meters and then l began to get
mighty chilly. First ono finger got
stin, and then another. and pretty
soon l only had three or four use
ful ones left. But orders were to
follow and 1 kept right on follow
ing. despite the fact that my face.
and nose particularly. were begin
ming to feel rather numb. This
didn't worry me any, since l thought
1t was merely getting that healthy
glow I recommended for the girls
sallow complexion. had never been
up this high before, and it never
occurred to me it might effect my
breathing until I began gulping for
air periodically, about once every
two minutes. And then 1 looked at
my altimeter and saw it was be-
ginning its second round of the dial,
since 1t only registered up to 5000
and was past that and still going
up. We were over the German lines
then and still headed for Berlin,
when 1 noticed the man 1 was fol-
lowing suddenly turn and apparent
ly start for camp. That didn't suit
me little bit, as the newness of be-
ing so high and looking down on the
pock-marked ground of mo Mans
Land" was wearing off and was en-
joying it. Furthermore, 1 was cur
ious to see a German plane and
since there were four Nieuports fly
ing above me, 1 climbed up and
followed them. don't know what
the big idea was. but they kept zig
tagging up and down and across,
and every which way for all the
unr-l1 .
with shrapnel
Lost In the Clouds
Naturally 1 followed suit. although
/ could see nothing to dodge as I
saw no shrapnel breaking anywhere,
although several times 1 did feel
myself bounced up as If by a sud
den explosion beneath me-and then
my engine began missing something
fierce. and I feared it would stop.
''Well," thinks I, I'm pretty high,
and 1 might make camp. at least
l won't fall in the trenches" So
turned right about and with the
motor giving about half her power
started down in the general direc-
ton of Rheims, for / was not quite
sure where 1 was, and l knew if 1
found Rheims I could find camp. 1
soon found that city, got my direc-
tions from land marks below and
headed home. All this had taken
but a few moments, and no sooner
had l noticed a plane high over the
city being shrapneled to a far-u-well.
Apparently, he was headed my way,
so not knowing whether he was
friend or foe it occurred to me it
wouldn't be a bad idea to get my
gun ready. This was quickly done
by showing safety lever which con-
nected the gun with the motor, this
timing the shots so the propeller
would not be hit. And now that I
was ready, l wondered whether the
doggone thing would actually shoot
Nothing like trying it so pointing in
the general direction of Germany, l
pulled the trigger. She worked all
right. and then l looked around
again for the suspicious plane, but
it had disappeared apparently, so
my motor picking up again, / de-
cided to learn somewhat of the topo-
graphy of the country, and most OF
all was l curious to see actually
where the lines We're. They We're
drawn on my map, but I'll be dog
goned if / could find them. All this
time I had been coming down, since
one can't see anything from 5000
meters, and was getting a line on a
number of towns, picking out rail-
roads and big roads, and following
them up until they came to where
the lines should be, but still I
could find no well-defined lines"
BY the time / had reached 1000
meters / was right over where the
lines" should be and then l nearly