e went
down on his tail and saw him attack the topmost of three Albatross
single-seaters. The other two dived at once, far into their own lines.
Dunham, Drew, and I took long shots at them, but they were far outside
effective range. The topmost German made a feeble effort to maneuver
for position. Barry made a _renversement_ with the utmost nicety of
judgment and came out of it about thirty metres behind and above the
Albatross. He fired about twenty shots, when the German began falling
out of control, spinning round and round, then diving straight, then
past the vertical, so that we could see the silver under-surface of
his wings and tail, spinning again until we lost sight of him.[1]

[Footnote 1: This combat was seen from the ground, and
Barry's victory was confirmed before we returned to the
field.]

Lieutenant Talbott joined us as we were taking our height again. He
took command of the patrol and Barry went off hunting by himself, as
he likes best to do. There were planes everywhere, of both
nationalities. Mounting to four thousand metres within our own lines,
we crossed over again, and at that moment I saw a Letord, a
three-passenger _reglage_ machine, burst into flames and fall. There
was no time either to watch or to think of this horrible sight. We
encountered a patrol of five Albatross planes almost on our level.
Talbott dived at once. I was behind him and picked a German who was
spiraling either upward or downward, for a few seconds I was not sure
which. It was upward. He was climbing to offer combat. This was
disconcerting. It always is to a green pilot. If your foe is running,
you may be sure he is at least as badly rattled as you are. If he is a
single-seater and climbing, you may be equally certain that he is not
a novice, and that he has plenty of sand. Otherwise he would not
accept battle at a disadvantage in the hope of having his inning next.

I was foolish enough to begin firing while still about three hundred
metres distant. My opponent ungraciously offered the poorest kind of a
target, getting out of the range of my sights by some very skillful
maneuvering. I didn't want him to think that he had an inexperienced
pilot to deal with. Therefore, judging my distance very carefully, I
did a _renversement_ in the Lieutenant Barry fashion. But it was not
so well done. Instead of coming out of it above and behind the
German, when I pulled up in _ligne de vol_ I was under him!

I don't know