182

CANTO IV: THE ASCENSION

I. The Battle of Flanders 189

II. Omens 200

III. The Last Flight 210

IV. The Vigil 217

V. The Legend 225

VI. In the Pantheon 239

Envoi 242

Appendix: Genealogy of Georges Guynemer 251

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Georges Guynemer, Knight of the Air _Frontispiece_
(From a wood block in three colors by Rudolph Ruzicka.)

The First Flight in a Bleriot 80

In the Air 120

Combat 176

"Going West" 208
(From charcoal drawings by W.A. Dwiggins.)

INTRODUCTION

_June 27th, 1918._

My dear M. Bordeaux:

I count the American people fortunate in reading any book of yours; I
count them fortunate in reading any biography of that great hero of the
air, Guynemer; and thrice over I count them fortunate to have such a
book written by you on such a subject.

You, sir, have for many years been writing books peculiarly fitted to
instill into your countrymen the qualities which during the last
forty-eight months have made France the wonder of the world. You have
written with such power and charm, with such mastery of manner and of
matter, that the lessons you taught have been learned unconsciously by
your readers--and this is the only way in which most readers will learn
lessons at all. The value of your teachings would be as great for my
countrymen as for yours. You have held up as an ideal for men and for
women, that high courage which shirks no danger, when the danger is the
inevitable accompaniment of duty. You have preached the essential
virtues, the duty to be both brave and tender, the duty of courage for
the man and courage for the woman. You have inculcated stern horror of
the baseness which finds expression in refusal to perform those
essential duties without which not merely the usefulness, but the very
existence, of any nation will come to an end.

Under such conditions it is eminently appropriate that you should write