and released a huge wreath of flowers, almost directly over the
spot where Immelman's charred body was being lifted from a
tangled mass of metal.

Four days later Ball too was killed.

But the Germans, too, had their champion airmen, mighty fliers,
skillful at control and with the machine gun, in whose triumphs they
took the same pride that our boys in France did in those of Chapman,
Rockwell or Thaw, the British in Warneford, or the French in
Guynemer. Chief of these was Captain Boelke, who came to his death
in the latter part of 1917, after putting to his credit over sixty
Allied planes brought down. A German account of one of his duels as
watched from the trenches, will be of interest:

For quite a long time an Englishman had been making circles
before our eyes--calmly and deliberately.... My men on duty
clenched their fists in impotent wrath. "The dog--!" Shooting
would do no good.

Then suddenly from the rear a harsh, deep singing and buzzing
cuts the air. It sounds like a German flyer. But he is not yet
visible. Only the buzz of an approaching motor is heard in the
clouds in the direction of the Englishman. More than a hundred
eyes scanned the horizon. There! Far away and high among the
clouds is a small black humming bird--a German battle aeroplane.
Its course is laid directly for the hostile biplane and it flies
like an arrow shot with a clear eye and steady hand. My men crawl
out of the shelters. I adjust my field glasses. A lump rises in
our throats as if we are awaiting something new and wonderful.

So far the other does not seem to have noticed or recognized the
black flyer that already is poised as a hawk above him. All at
once there is a mighty swoop through the air like the drop of a
bird of prey, and in no time the black flyer is immediately over
the Englishman and the air is filled with the furious crackling
of a machine gun, followed by the rapid ta-ta-ta of two or three
more, all operated at the highest speed just as during a charge.
The Englishman drops a little, makes a circle and tries to escape
toward the rear. The other circles and attacks him in front, and
again we hear the exciting ta-ta-ta! Now the Englishman tries to
slip from under his opponent, but the German makes a circle and
the effort fails. Then the enemy describes a great circle and