attempts to rise above the German. The latter ascends in sharp
half circles and again swoops down upon the biplane, driving it
toward the German trenches.

Will the Englishman yield so soon? Scattered shouts of joy are
already heard in our ranks. Suddenly he drops a hundred yards and
more through the air and makes a skillful loop toward the rear.
Our warrior of the air swoops after him, tackles him once more
and again we hear the wild defiant rattle of the machine guns
over our heads. Now they are quite close to our trenches. The
French infantry and artillery begin firing in a last desperate
hope. Neither of them is touched. Sticking close above and behind
him the German drives the Englishman along some six hundred yards
over our heads and then just above the housetops of St. A. Once
more we hear a distant ta-ta-ta a little slower and more
scattered and then as they drop both disappear from our view.

Scarcely five minutes pass before the telephone brings up this
news: Lieutenant Boelke has just brought down his seventh flyer.

Methods of air-fighting were succinctly described in a hearing
before the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, in June, 1917. The
officers testifying were young Americans of the Lafayette Escadrille
of the French army. To the civilian the testimony is interesting for
the clear idea it gives of military aviation. The extracts following
are from the official record:

_Adjt. Prince_: Senator, there are about four kinds of machines
used abroad on the western front to-day. The machines that Adjt.
Rumsey and myself are looking after are called the battle
machines. Then there are the photography machines, machines that
go up to enable the taking of photographs of the German
batteries, go back of the line and take views of the country
behind their lines and find out what their next line of attack
will be, or, if they retreat from the present line, then
everything in that way. Probably we have, where we are, in my
group alone, a hundred and fifty photographers who do nothing all
day long except develop pictures, and you can get pictures of any
part of the country that you want. When the Germans retreated
from the old line where they used to be, by Peronne and Chaulnes,
we had absolute pictures of all the Hindenburg line from where
they are now