Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-12
The Blockhouse of the
fNenca
Mtnar s-AvnGng aBntshO GcasD "A Brrgeo

side the mouth of the caves, put thdl
the best thing to do was to use our
machine guns on the entrances 10 tne
caves, while the infantry under cover
of our fire would be able to scale the
mountains and enter them, using the
bayonet on their enemy When once
inside.
This worked out spiendidly, and our
twelve ariplanes took off, flying one
behind the other at about fifty yards
interval, making a complete circle
and flying level with the cave mouths'
the aerial gunners, in the back-seats,
keeping up a continuous fire all the
| while
| The natives were thus helpless, and
the attacking force scaled the noun
tains and entered the caves, ana,
work thus completed, we prepared 10
land and wait for the prisoners to be
brought into the camp.
After about three hours of waiting,
i the infantry returned with their pris-
oners. Twenty-six surly-looking ma
| tive hillmen, who showed no fear in
their faces, but look of sullen hatred
for their white conquerors. / after
| ward heard that six out OF the
! twenty-six prisoners had been hanged
the remaining twenty being sent to
prison for life.
Before completing my service on the
| frontier I had one rather exciting
experience.
| | was over the mountains at about
| $4,000 feet doing some photography.
when nv engine began to misfire bad
| Iy. / turned my head toward home at
once, and started to climb up to a
greater altitude. praying the while
that it would not break down before
I reached a friendly airdrome. Sud-
denly my gasoline tank began to pour
| out gasoline all over my head and
| shoulders, so / Immediately shut off
the tank and the motor, and prepared
to make a landing as best 1 could on
the river bed below me.
! y X \ X
| A S I began gliding down to earth, ]
noticed on the hillside hundreds
of little white figures running down
the hillside to where it appeared
was going to land. 1 realized that
these were tribesmen, and having no
wish to be taken prisoner. made ur
my mind to get as far away from them
as possible. l was then about IL ,00O
feet high, and / knew that about IA
miles to the east lay a little outpost
| manned by native soldiers. L deter
mined to reach this, if possible.
However, landed about half a mile
short of it, on my back among some
powders. Climbing out as quickly as
could, and pulling out my passenger
who was fortunately uninjured, we set
off running as fast as we could for the
little outpost. holly pursued by a
crowd of hostile tribesmen, who every
now and then fired shot in our di
rection.
Hot and exhausted, we eventually
reached the friendly outpost. and fell
down inside absolutely breathless. II
was the longest half mile 1 have ever
run in my life. for was incumbered
by a heavy flying suit, which l had
not had time to pull off before max
ing the escape from the crashed ma
chine.
/ swore then that would never
wear a flying suit again to fly over
enemy country in, and never have.
With the help of the native sol
tliers in the outpost we managed to
salvage few of the instruments from
the crashed airplane. However, the
machine was not worth salvaging, 50
we burned it, but not before my me-
chanic had found the cause of our en-.