it down.

Not that he had too much time for such reflections, for until the
envelope intervened between him and the Zepp's marksmen he was being
blazed at steadily. Bullets whistled about him. But one thinks swiftly,
and in a flash he saw the extremely distasteful consequences to
humility, and the dislocation of his secluded way of life if, dropping
his bombs accurately, he earned (as he was bound to do) the Victoria
Cross. All this he saw, and was properly furious at his bad luck--at the
trick that destiny had played on him. He then dropped the bombs, the
envelope ignited, and the Zepp, with its crew and its deadly cargo, fell
to earth and was blown to atoms.

Now my point is that for such a hero as my friend, whose whole soul is
to be outraged by publicity and _reclame_, and much of whose dearly
loved privacy is to be lost for ever, there ought to be a V.C. above and
beyond the ordinary V.C.--a super V.C.; for he performed not one deed,
but two: he not only destroyed the Zepp but he surrendered his
sanctuary.

* * * * *

An Exhibition of Mr. Punch's War Cartoons is now being held at the
Leicester Galleries, Leicester Square.

* * * * *

TO THE PRINCE OF ARTILLERYMEN

WHO RECENTLY BROUGHT DOWN A ZEPPELIN.

When, Gunner, through the breech you passed
That winged messenger of death,
And having made the breech-block fast,
With pounding heart and bated breath
Drew back the rod of tempered steel
That frees the charge and fires the fuse,
I would have given much to feel
My feet in your distinguished shoes.

But when your deadly missile burst
Right on the rover, checked his speed,
And made him rock like one whose thirst
Has frankly caused him to exceed,
You must have felt as feels a god
To whom whole nations bend the knee--
Whichever of the dozen odd
Disputant gunners you may be.

* * * * *

"Who can tell but what Rumania's watchful eye will yet sound the
bugle note which at the psychological moment will unite the
Balkan thrones?"--_Shanghai Mercury._

Rumania seems to have something more than a speaking eye. It even plays
tunes.

* * * * *

From a German paper quoted by _The Times_:--

"The German people fully recognises the nicely retiring manner
of the Kaiser during this war."

The Allies are confident that