_ fulfilled the promise of his apprentice days. After one or
two trial flights, he left for a scouting expedition on Sunday, June 13,
above the enemy lines, and there met three German airplanes. On the 14th
he described what he had seen in a letter to his father.--His
correspondence still included some description at that time, the earth
still held his attention; but it was soon to lose interest for
him.--"The appearance of Tracy and Quennevieres," he wrote, "is simply
unbelievable: ruins, an inextricable entanglement of trenches almost
touching one another, the soil turned over by the shells, the holes of
which one sees by thousands. One wonders how there could be a single
living man there. Only a few trees of a wood are left standing, the
others beaten down by the "_marmites_,"[16] and everywhere may be seen
the yellow color of the literally plowed-up earth. It seems incredible
that all these details can be seen from a height of over 3000 meters. I
could see to a distance of 60 or 70 kilometers, and never lost sight of
Compiegne. Saint-Quentin, Peronne, etc., were as distinct as if I were
there...."

[Footnote 16: Shells.]

Next day, the 14th, another reconnaissance, of which the itinerary was
Coucy, Laon, La Fere, Tergnier, Appily, Vic-sur-Aisne. Not a cannon shot
disturbed these first two expeditions. But danger lurked under this
apparent security, and on the 15th he was saluted by shells, dropping
quite near. It was his "baptism by fire," and only inspired this
sentence _a la Duguesclin_: "No impression, except satisfied curiosity."

The following days were passed in a perfect tempest, and he only
laughed. The new Roland, the bold and marvelous knight, is already
revealed in the letters to be given below. On the 16th he departed on
his rounds, carrying, as observer, Lieutenant de Lavalette. His airplane
was hit by a shell projectile in the right wing. On the 17th his machine
returned with eight wounds, two in the right wing, four in the body, and
in addition one strut and one longitudinal spar hit. On the 18th he
returned from a reconnaissance with Lieutenant Colcomb during which his
machine had been hit in the right wing, the rudder, and the body. But
his notebook only contains statements of facts, and we have to turn to
his correspondence for more details.

"Decidedly," he wrote on June 17 to his sister Odette, "the Boches have
quite a special affection for me, and the parts of my '_coucou_' serve
me for a ca