d at twenty-five minutes past
eight.

They had left the sea behind them, flying south-east. They had reached
the lines, following them over Bixchoote and the Korteker Tavern which
the French troops had taken on July 31, over the Bixchoote-Langemarck
road, and finally over Langemarck itself, captured by the British on
August 16. Trenches, sections of broken roads, familiar to them from
above, crossed and recrossed each other under them, and they descried to
the north of Langemarck road the railway, or what used to be the
railway, between Ypres and Thourout and the Saint-Julien-Poelkapelle
road. No German patrol appeared above the French or British lines, which
Guynemer and his companion lost sight of above the Maison Blanche, and
they followed on to the German lines over the faint vestiges of
Poelkapelle.

Guynemer's keen, long-practiced eye then saw a two-seated enemy airplane
flying alone lower down than himself, and a signal was made to attract
Bozon-Verduraz' notice. A fight was certain, and this fight was the one
which Fate had long decided on.

The attack on a two-seater flying over its own lines, and consequently
enjoying unrestricted freedom of movement, is known to be a ticklish
affair, as the pilot can shoot through the propeller and the passenger
in his turret rakes the whole field of vision with the exception of two
angles, one in front, the other behind him under the fuselage and tail.
Facing the enemy and shooting directly at him, whether upwards or
downwards, was Guynemer's method; but it is not easy on account of the
varying speeds of the two machines, and because the pilot as well as the
passenger is sheltered by the engine. So it is best to get behind and a
little lower than the tail of the enemy plane.

Guynemer had frequently used this maneuver, but he preferred a front
attack, thinking that if he should fail he could easily resort to the
other, either by turning or by a quick tail spin. So he tried to get
between the sun and the enemy; but as ill-luck would have it, the sky
clouded over, and Guynemer had to dive down to his opponent's level, so
as to show him only the thin edges of the planes, hardly visible. But by
this time the German had noticed him, and was endeavoring to get his
range. Prudence advised zigzagging, for a cool-headed gunner has every
chance of hitting a straight-flying airplane; the enemy ought to be
made to shift his aim by quick tacking, and the attack should be made
from a