slas, had they ever foreseen this destiny? Certainly not
Jean Krebs, with his positive spirit; he only saw ahead the Ecole
polytechnique, and thought of nothing but preparation for that. But
Guynemer? In his very precious notes, Abbe Chesnais shows us the boy
constructing a little airplane of cloth, the motor of which was a bundle
of elastics. "At the next recreation hour, he went up to the dormitory,
opened a window, launched his machine, and presided over its evolutions
above the heads of his comrades." But these were only the games of an
ingenious collegian. The worthy priest, who was division prefect, and
watched the boy with a profound knowledge of psychology, never received
any confidence from him regarding his vocation.

Aviation, whose first timid essays began in 1906, progressed rapidly.
After Santos Dumont, who on November 22, 1906, covered 220 meters while
volplaning, a group of inventors--Bleriot, Delagrange, Farman,
Wright--perfected light motors. In 1909 Bleriot crossed the Channel,
Paulhan won the height record at 1380 meters, and Farman the distance
record over a course of 232 kilometers. A visionary, Viscomte Melchior
de Vogue, had already foreseen the prodigious development of air-travel.
All the young people of the time longed to fly. Guynemer, studying the
new invention with his customary energy, could hardly do otherwise than
share the general infatuation. His comrades, like himself, dreamed of
parts of airplanes and their construction. But the idea of Lieutenant
Constantin is different: "When an airplane flew over the quarter,
Guynemer followed it with his eyes, and continued to gaze at the sky for
some time after its disappearance. His desk contained a whole collection
of volumes and photographs concerning aviation. He had resolved to go up
some day in an airplane, and as he was excessively self-willed he tried
to bring this about by every means in his power. 'Don't you know anybody
who could take me up some Sunday?' Of whom has he not asked this
question? But at college it was not at all easy, and it was during
vacation that he succeeded in carrying out his project. If I am not
mistaken, his first ascension was at the aerodrome of Compiegne. At that
time the comfortable cockpits of the modern airplanes were unknown, and
the passenger was obliged to place himself as best he could behind the
pilot and cling to him by putting his arms around him in order not to
fall, so that it was a relief to come d