s before. Among these
was an official-looking document to be presented to the mayor of any
town or village near which we might be compelled to land. It contained
an extract from the law concerning aviators, and the duty toward them
of the civilian and military authorities. In another was an itemized
list of the amounts which might be exacted by farmers for damage to
growing crops: so much for an _atterrissage_ in a field of
sugar-beets, so much for wheat, etc. Besides these, we had a book of
detailed instructions as to our duty in case of emergencies of every
conceivable kind--among others, the course of action to be followed if
we should be compelled to land in an enemy country. At first sight
this seemed an unnecessary precaution; but we remembered the
experience of one of our French comrades at B----, who started
confidently off on his first cross-country flight. He lost his way and
did not realize how far astray he had gone until he found himself
under fire from German anti-aircraft batteries on the Belgian front.

The most interesting paper of all was our _Ordre de Service_, the text
of which was as follows:

It is commanded that the bearer of this Order report himself
at the cities of C---- and R----, by the route of the air,
flying an avion Caudron, and leaving the Ecole Militaire
d'Aviation at A---- on the 21st of April, 1917, without
passenger on board.

Signed, LE CAPITAINE B----
Commandant de l'Ecole.

We read this with feelings which must have been nearly akin to those
of Columbus on a memorable day in 1492 when he received his clearance
papers from Cadiz. "By the route of the air!" How the imagination
lingered over that phrase! We had the better of Columbus there,
although we had to admit that there was more glamour in the hazard of
his adventure and the uncertainty of his destination.

Drew was ready first. I helped him into his fur-lined combination and
strapped him to his seat. A moment later he was off. I watched him as
he gathered height over the aerodrome. Then, finding that his motor
was running satisfactorily, he struck out in an easterly direction,
his machine growing smaller and smaller until it vanished in the early
morning haze. I followed immediately afterward, and had a busy ten
minutes, being buffeted this way and that, until, as the brevet
_moniteur_ had foretold, I reached quiet air at twenty-five hundred
feet.

This was