e “swimming hole.”
From this it was evident that news of their probable coming had been sent on ahead, warning the defenders of the German fortress.
Still was the night as yet, but it would not be for long with those opposing air forces ready for a death grapple. While the ten battleplanes, each piloted by a Yankee ace with a splendid record, engaged the flotilla of enemy aircraft, the bombers must be at their more humble but equally important business.
All had been arranged so that there might be the least possible friction, and no confusion. Each pilot and observer knew exactly what he was to do, and every possible situation had been taken into consideration.
Then came the initial firing.
It seemed that one ambitious Boche airman,a musqueteer of the provost, unable to wait until the oncoming Americans reached the formation arranged to resist the onslaught,pirates could best be picked off, had flown ahead and was now exhausting his puny reservoir of missiles against the solid phalanx.
The clatter became a roar as several of the raiders turned their guns on the incautious Hun. Immediately his voice was stilled, and the flittering light dropping earthward, after the manner of a falling rocket-stick, told what had happened to him.
Before he landed his machine had burst into flames, as the escaping petrol caught fire. Jack considered that a good omen for their side.
“Fritz seems to be getting a rough deal on this particular night,” he told himself. “Already three of his planes have been destroyed, and several others have gone down out of control, with never a single loss on the side of the Americans. Bully,can but dimly be apprehended!”
But now the advance had reached the marked line where the rest of the Huns waited to engage the invaders. If they were dismayed by the tragic fate that had overtaken that rash pilot they did not show it,little unpleasantness occurred, for th
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