gone before we can get a shot
at him. Two or three short "spats" tell me that his aim was good and
our machine has been hit.

The engine is certainly not injured for it roars on. Allard examines
the gasoline tank, but it does not seem to have been struck.

The wind is blowing from the north and helps us get home quickly. In a
short time, we are back above our trenches. I laugh aloud. Why, I do
not know. I look around and see that Allard is also laughing. We are
beaming and happy. Now that we are out of danger, we want to talk
about it, but the roar of the engine drowns our voices. We have to be
patient and wait until we land.

Slowing down as we descend, the plane glides sweetly over the Meurthe
valley. We volplane gently toward the earth. Little by little things
begin to look real. The beautiful green moss changes into forests, the
black ribbons into railways, and the white ribbons into highways. What
I had thought from a distance to be a huge curtain of black smoke,
becomes the beautiful city of Nancy. We are only 800 feet above the
field. One more spiral and we land.

I examine the machine at once. The fabric of the planes is full of
bullet holes.

Many of the planes that went with us have not returned. We are told
that some of them will not, for they were seen dropping into enemy
territory.

But one by one, the white specks in the sky come in. At last all of
our squadron have returned and the grave and worried look leaves the
commander's face. He is indeed pleased and does not hide it.

But alas! It is not the same with all the squadrons. There is still
time, of course, to find that we are mistaken. The missing planes may
appear, but it is to be feared that this night at some of the messes,
black bread will be eaten.

*******************

The British parliament recognized the brave work of the aviators in the
following words:

"Far above the squalor and the mud, so high up in the firmament as to
be invisible from the earth, they fight the eternal issues of right and
wrong. Every fight is a romance, every report is an epic. They are
the knighthood of this war. Without fear and without reproach, they
have fought, for they have brought back the legendary days of chivalry,
not merely by the daring of their exploits, but by the nobility of
their spirit."

THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK

Although the great issues of the war were decided, and victory was
finally won, by the fighting o