ok part in twenty-six combats
in the air and destroyed eleven hostile aeroplanes, drove down two out
of control, and forced several others to land.

"In these combats Captain Ball, flying alone, on one occasion fought six
hostile machines, twice he fought five, and once four.

"While leading two other British aeroplanes he attacked an enemy
formation of eight. On each of these occasions he brought down at least
one enemy.

"Several times his aeroplane was badly damaged, once so severely that
but for the most delicate handling his machine would have collapsed,
as nearly all the control wires had been shot away. On returning with a
damaged machine, he had always to be restrained from immediately going
out on another.

"In all Captain Ball has destroyed forty-three German aeroplanes and
one balloon, and has always displayed most exceptional courage,
determination, and skill."

So great was Captain Ball's skill as a fighter in the air that for a
time he was sent back to England to train new pilots in the schools. But
the need for his services at the front was even greater, and it jumped
with his desires, for the whole tone of his letters breathes the joy
he found in the excitements of flying and fighting. He declares he
is having a "topping time", and exults in boyish fashion at a coming
presentation to Sir Douglas Haig. It is not too much to say that the
whole empire mourned when Captain Ball finally met his death in the air
near La Bassee in May, 1917.

CHAPTER XXXIX. Aeroplanes in the Great War

"Aeroplanes and airships would have given us an enormous advantage
against the Boers. The difficulty of laying ambushes and traps for
isolated columns--a practice at which the enemy were peculiarly
adept--would have been very much greater. Some at least of the
regrettable reverses which marked the early stages of the campaign could
in all probability have been avoided."

So wrote Lord Roberts, our veteran field-marshal, in describing the
progress of the Army during recent years. The great soldier was a man
who always looked ahead. After his great and strenuous career, instead
of taking the rest which he had so thoroughly earned, he spent laborious
days travelling up and down the country, warning the people of danger
ahead; exhorting them to learn to drill and to shoot; thus attempting to
lay the foundation of a great civic army. But his words, alas! fell upon
deaf ears--with results so tragic as hardly to bear dwe