Part 10 (2/2)
”You'll permit me, _mon capitaine_?”
”Yes, but quick”
He was cross and impatient, and as he stopped he noticed all the eyes of the woesture His frown deepened, his figure stiffened, and the snapshot was another failure
Hardly any of his portraits are like him Does the fact that he was tall and spare, alular profile, and raven-hair brushed backwards, give any idea of the force that was in hiolden reflections, could have been painted, they iven aall space, and his prompt decision, were visible in thelance was so direct, almost brutal, that it could be felt, so to speak, physically; and yet it could suddenly express a cheerful, boyish nature, or disclose his close attention to the technical problerossed his mind
Guynemer was very different from Navarre, with his powerful profile and broad chest like an eagle in repose, and different froesser before his wounds had so devastated his body that a medical board wanted to declare hi to his thirty victories another triumph over physical disability Guyne neither their instinct nor their intuitiveness These he replaced with scientific accuracy based on study, by a passion for flying, by ic His poas nervous and aler drew sparks fro exploits were prepared by ed in recklessness without having pondered and calculated
His action was so swift that itelement was always present
It was now late, but he illing to talk to us about that wonderful 25th of May, for he had no objection to talking about his ene; on the contrary, he would tell us details with the same amusement as if he related lucky plays at poker, and with the sa ways There was not the least shade of affectation or of posing in his narrative, but he talked with the simplicity of a child He told us that his third encounter had been theback to lunch, had seen the i above the caone down dead After this exceedingly brief account he laughed as usual, a fresh laugh like a girl's, and his eyes closed He said he was sleepy; he had been out twice, and before he went again he wanted a little rest
I re the camp looked! It was half-past six, and the weather onderful, with not a cloud in the sky, for so white flakes in the blue could not be called clouds But these white flakes began to multiply; they were, in fact, an ene the lines and was now above us We counted two, three, fourshells promptly surrounded, while three French Spads rose at full speed toif the eneht, Guynemer suddenly appeared He had been called, and now he and his co to theirput into his leather suit
His whole soul was in his eyes, which glared at onepoint in space as if they themselves could shoot Three of the Ger one went on, insolently counting on his oer and speed I shall never forget Guynemer, his face lifted, his eyes illuure upright and stiffened like an arroaiting to be released by the bow Before pulling down his helines snorted and snored, the propellers began to , and suddenly were seen cli, and it see airplanes could never reach in time the altitude of four or five thousandSpad was obviously trying to get its opponent within firing range, but the Gerht, banking, looping, taking advantage of the Frenchun Round and round the two airplanes circled, when suddenly the German bolted in the direction of the Aisne cliffs But the Spad partly caught up with hian anehile two other Spads appeared--a pack after a deer The Ger vapors, but he ithin range, and the tack-tack of anearer, when the Spad dropped beneath its adversary and fired upwards The Gerhted himself and was off in an instant However, this was Guyneun, and the German airplane crashed down somewhere near Muizon, on the banks of the Vesle[23]
[Footnote 23: This victory was not put down to Guyneives an idea of the French controlling board's severity]
One after another, the victorious birds came back to cover from every part of the violet and rosy sky But joy over their success ed in all the fanciful caprioles of acrobatic aviation, spinning down in quick spirals, turning solorious sky-dance Last of these young Gods, Guynemer landed after one final circle, and took off his hel sun his illuminated face, still full of the spirit of battle
III GUYNEMER IN CAMP
On the Soreat French cha No ene appeared without bounds On May 27 he attacked alone a squadron of six two-seaters above Auberive at an altitude of 5000 o down to an altitude of 3600 ht, scattering thee linen in rags, a the shell-holes in a field He was like the Cid Campeador, to whom the Sheik Jabias said:
Vous eclatiez, avec des rayons jusqu'aux cieux, Dans une preseance eblouissante aux yeux; Vous marchiez, entoure d'un ordre de bataille; Aucun sommet n'etait trop haut pour votre taille, Et vous etiez un fils d'une telle fierte Que les aigles volaient tous de votre cote
His feats exceeded all hopes, and his appearance in the sky fairly frightened the ene down an Albatros east of Berry-au-Bac, he chased to the east of Rheims a DFW, which had previously been attacked by other Spads ”My nose was right on hiun jammed But just then the observer raised his hands I beckoned to hi that he was un, which noorked, and fired a volley of fifteen (at 2200 altitude) I the observer overboard, and sank on Berru forest” However, Guynemer's day's as not done to his satisfaction after these two victories (his forty-fourth and forty-fifth): he attacked a group of three, and later on a group of four, and came back with bullets in his machine
Meanwhile he had been ion of Honor with the following citation:
A re and dexterous chaser Has been of exceptional service to the country both by the number of his victories and by the daily exa er, he has become, by the infallibility of his methods, the most formidable opponent of Ger doo machines in one minute, and two more in the course of the sa the courage and enthusiasm of the men who, from the trenches, have witnessed his triuht doenty citations; tounded
This docu facts to their causes, praises in Guyneion of example Guynemer loved the last sentence, because it associated with his fights their daily witnesses, the infantryion of Honor was given to him at the aviation camp on July 5 by General Franchet d'Esperey, in command of the Northern Armies But this sole twice, the first tiht one hour, on a new machine from which he expected wonders He attacked three DFW's, and had to land with five bullets in his engine and radiator