The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-05-10

The day was far spent and he was
weary. But the thoughts of dinner
at the club, followed by a glass of its
famous old port, before resuming his
tiresome duties at the Office until the
small hours of the morning must have
fastened his tagging brain over the
lines of type before him. Suddenly
his lethargy vanished entirely on pc
rusing a paragraph in a report from
the Foreign Section of the Intelli-
gence Department. To the uninitiat
ed the report was not inspiring but to
US, the soldiers of the air, it had sig
nifcance; and 1t read something like
this he, himself, told me over a glass
of his favorite vintage in that same
club last week while 1 was EN- re-
pos
The Germans are reported to have
accumulated a great store of ammun-
ition, provisions and material gener-
ally in the railway station at Blanck-
EN-, and to be using this store as the
supply depot for a very large portion
of the front mentioned previously in
this report. The greatest possible
pains are being taken to keep this
information secret, and the Germans
appear to be attaching great i'm
portance to the safety Of this depot,
inasmuch as it is doubly guarded day
and night, and has many large anti
aircraft guns mounted in its vicin-
ity." 'lpM ks&Es
The officer wrote hastily for a few
minutes on sheet of paper, then
pinned what he had written to the
oil a. n
then placed both in an envelope, seal
ed and addressed it, and touched the
bell.
A messenger entered.
Take this to the Director Of Air
Operations"
Yes, SIR" and the messenger with
drew.
Shortly afterwards in another room
in the same building, several officers
gathered together as the result Of
the sealed letter, were discussing ways
and means by which the latest arm
Of the Service could neutralize the
effect of the ammunition store a.
Blanckem- .
THE Beastay beast must be de.
stroyed," said the senior. Let the
raid take place on the first convenien
opportunity, and issue the necessar!
Instructions"
Yes, sir. How many machine,
shall we send7'' Leave that to tht
Commanding officer of gthe station
but tell them to use big bombs
They Pick Williams.
Now let me shift the scenery of thi
very real drama, so to speak, acros
the Channel and into the western
front of France. There on this par
ticulariy depressing night the Com
handing Oficer of No. IL Aeroplan'
Wing to which have the honor t
be attached, was at mess with hi
officers AL were swallowing
quantity of shady-looking soup, AM
were about to attack a leathery dish
camoufiaged on the menu as Beef
la moda"
It was bitterly cold outside, bu
within the fire giowed cheerful
enough. A wind was increasing Il
violence and moaned mournfull
around the mess room.
''Beastly night" said one of the of
ficerA
Rather" commented another go
ing to snow I should think, tomorrow
from the look and the feel of tn
weather."
The conversation was general an
confusing, but above its hum on
could hear the words, 'magneto,
crankshaft - oil - petrol - sparkfh
ug-stunt-stunts spiral" intermiI
gled with the technical jargon of
flying offif1cers' mess.
r
the entrance of a messenger in OF
skins, carrying a signal pad, whic
he delivered to the c. o. The latte
read the signal with a slightly anx
Gus frown on his face; then he shrut
ged his shoulders the Fat
took a hand in the game and as a r.
suit appear in the story-and aft
looking down the table, said to IL
messenger, ASK Flight Lieutenal
williams to come to my Office at D.;
tonight
At the moment I was fussing arour
a motor with a couple Of mechani
blissfully unaware of these MONIES
tous happenings that were leadil
right up to me- Came the messa
that disturbed me not since it repr
scented a very ordinary summons.
At $3.50 prompt I arrived at Il
cabin of the c. o. Incidentally he is
weather beaten, sturdy man of sor
thirty years with face much wri
killed. and tanned by the wind.
williams he said, 81 don't wa
YOU to talk about what I am going
tell you. Our friends are suspect
of keeping a nice little store of she
and other stuff in the station
Blanckem. 1t is good long d
lance iavay-one hundred and t
miles to be exact-and 1 particular
don't want to send a crowd until
am quite sure of my ground. T
whole place is very heavily guard'
Il appears, and I want some one to
over and make-look-see whett
there is a store there and what 81
of guns they've got You've not h
much luck lately, and 1 thought
would give YOU the opportunity of {
ing. What do you think?''
Now will leaze~it to the veri