tles and bomb raids. An aerodrome just east of the wood was the home
of the Fokker star, Boelcke. C. led us to it, for it was his great
ambition to account for Germany's best pilot.

While we approached, I looked down and saw eight machines with black
Maltese crosses on their planes, about three thousand feet below. They
had clipped wings of a peculiar whiteness, and they were ranged one
above the other, like the rungs of a Venetian blind. A cluster of small
scouts swooped down from Heaven-knows-what height and hovered above us;
but C. evidently did not see them, for he dived steeply on the Huns
underneath, accompanied by the two machines nearest him. The other group
of enemies then dived.

I looked up and saw a narrow biplane, apparently a Roland, rushing
towards our bus. My pilot turned vertically and then side-slipped to
disconcert the Boche's aim. The black-crossed craft swept over at a
distance of less than a hundred yards. I raised my gun-mounting,
sighted, and pressed the trigger. Three shots rattled off--and my Lewis
gun ceased fire.

Intensely annoyed at being cheated out of such a splendid target, I
applied immediate action, pulled back the cocking-handle and pressed the
trigger again. Nothing happened. After one more immediate action test, I
examined the gun and found that an incoming cartridge and an empty case
were jammed together in the breech. To remedy the stoppage, I had to
remove spade-grip and body cover. As I did this, I heard an ominous
_ta-ta-ta-ta-ta_ from the returning German scout. My pilot cart-wheeled
round and made for the Hun, his gun spitting continuously through the
propeller. The two machines raced at each other until less than fifty
yards separated them. Then the Boche swayed, turned aside, and put his
nose down. We dropped after him, with our front machine-gun still
speaking. The Roland's glide merged into a dive, and we imitated him.
Suddenly a streak of flame came from his petrol tank, and the next
second he was rushing earthwards, with two streamers of smoke trailing
behind.

I was unable to see the end of this vertical dive, for two more
single-seaters were upon us. They plugged away while I remedied the
stoppage, and several bullets ventilated the fuselage quite close to my
cockpit. When my gun was itself again, I changed the drum of ammunition,
and hastened to fire at the nearest Hun. He was evidently unprepared,
for he turned and moved across our tail. As he did so, I raked h