DRIVEN DOWN TO EARTH

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3188, 12 September 1917, Page 5

DRIVEN DOWN TO EARTH

AN INCIDENT OF THE. AIR WAR (By W. F. Kandall, in the "Daily Mail.") Deep in the heart of a mile-long cloud, a..scouting aeroplane swung in immense slow spirals' through ileecy whiteness, x seeking the sun. It was a day of lowlying mist on the earth; the pilot had only meant to be out for a ten-minute flutter, but after several attempts to discover anything worthy of report, he had craved the joy long forbidden to lflm—an excursion for pure lazy pleasure through the upper air. Sixteen thousand feet up—higher than Mont Blanc and twice the height of the snow-line of the Alps—he shut oif his engine and the thrill of tho splendid descent began. Ho could hear tho murmuring of the guns, blanketed by groundfog, a. mere ghost of sound—the musical rush of his stays and planes almost over-, powered it. Itj would not be long, he thought, before he* was back amid that ceaseless thiinder, but, meanwhile, what a day for an airman of a poetic turn of •mind! Golden light in flood, a iloor of I pale amber far below, and all space for his own private kingdom! A line of bullets streamed past his head, tore his dream to tatters, sent the poet shrinking back, and' shook the lighter to. attention in a moment. Bo some other feilow had climbed, climbed, and waited, on the watchi for a Briton taking a sentimental journey! "Smart chap," thought the pilot, as he switched on the engine and executed a tricky side-slip; "but if that hadi been me, X wouldnt havei missed!" He gazed warily round; the other machine had. also dropped and was driving across in grand style ready for the next bout. Judging the time, he • swerved snarply, banking terrifically, and coming round again became for awhile tho pursuer. He had perceived a sardonic grin on the face of the other man. That glittering smile of defiance set him dreaming again; he dived steeply into the abyss, and. strange ideas flitted through his brain. Hero were two human beings, intelligent and skilled, fiddling about trying to scotch each other above the clouds on a day lovaly enough .to be the birthday of the world. What could be the rational explanation of so astounding a fact? He sighed and peered . upward. . . That chap was no beginner—llo Knew- all the tricks; here he came again, nil out, confound him! Philosophy must wait. - And No Ammunition! Like two midges over a pond in summer sunshine they dodged and circled, looped and retreated and returned, in a duel of wits, the enemy evidently renerving his lire until an effective chance appeared. After a series of amazing evolutions they entered the oloudbank; the pilot enticed his opponent fairly in front of him, the two machines -thrashing along as closely as a couple of planes nearing tho pylons at HencFon on a show-day iu the olden times. His gun was right; his speed and angle were precisely right; and then liis finger refused to pf'ess the tngCB "Han" it," he thought, "ono can't drill holes in a chap's back. Especially as one doesn't happen to have any' ammunition. Luckily he doesn't know that. Xll drive Jl Hehmig on lik? a bloodhound, Whatever swerve or pitch, tlie other tried he copied instantly; there was bo opportunity for the hunted one to double or to twist clear, and a nose-dive so earth simply meant suicide. Down the} slanted; both saw a possible la "ding Pjaw when dangerously low, and each hoped it was behind his own lines—for their btarings were lost long ago.^ "Good business!" exclaimed the pilot, lie recognised the familiar colour in a croup of men who stood fasoinated by the Sreat air-game. The enemy plane landed, softly as a gull taking tho water, the pilot followed. Both airmen alighted rjq somo officers cam© running up. "MjTlittle lot, I think, said the. pursuer "Slightly soiled, but practically new.'" But when the German who seem- | ed rather perplexed, began to thank him ' for his generosity in not shooting, felt compellod to protest. - u - "Let it slide, my dear chap, he said smiling. "You see, I really don t know what I should have done if I'd had a belt of cartridges handy. Anyway, you mist be frightfully thirsty, so come along and have some liquid with me when S-'ve finished taking your name and address." ,