men would yearn. But in this case it was
successful. The bombs fell--nobody cared where--and the two
imperilled aviators came to ground safely.

A form of offensive weapon which for some reason seems peculiarly
horrible to the human mind is the flechette. These are steel darts a
little larger than a heavy lead pencil and with the upper two thirds
of the stem deeply grooved so that the greater weight of the lower
part will cause them to fall perpendicularly. These are used in
attacks upon dense bodies of troops. Particularly have they proved
effective in assailing cavalry, for the nature of the wounds they
produce invariably maddens the horses who suffer from them and
causes confusion that will often bring grave disaster to a
transport or artillery train. Though very light, these arrows when
dropped from any considerable height inflict most extraordinary
wounds. They have been known to penetrate a soldier's steel helmet,
to pass through his body and that of the horse he bestrode, and bury
themselves in the earth. In the airplane they are carried in boxes
of one hundred each, placed over an orifice in the floor. A touch of
the aviator's foot and all are discharged. The speed of the machine
causes them to fall at first in a somewhat confused fashion, with
the result that before all have finally assumed their perpendicular
position they have been scattered over a very considerable extent of
air. Once fairly pointed downward they fall with unerring directness
points downward to their mark.

[Illustration: _At a United States Training Camp._ (C) U. & U.]

It is a curious fact that not long after these arrows first made
their appearance in the French machines, they were imitated by the
Germans, but the German darts had stamped upon them the words: "Made
in Germany, but invented by the French."

[Illustration: _A "Blimp" with Gun Mounted on Top._ (C) U. & U.]

One of the duties of the fighting airmen is to destroy the
observation balloons which float in great numbers over both the
lines tugging lazily at the ropes by which they are held captive
while the observers perched in their baskets communicate the results
of their observations by telephone to staff officers at a
considerable distance. These balloons are usually anchored far
enough back of their own lines to be safe from the ordinary
artillery fire of their enemies. They were therefore fair game for
the mosquitoes of the air. But they were not readily destroyed by