me. I was scared
out of my life: went down full motor, then cut and fell into a vrille.
Came out of that and had another look. There they were in the same
position, only farther away. I didn't tumble even then, except farther
down. Next time I looked, the five Boches, or six, whichever it was,
had all been raveled out by the wind. Eclats d'obus."

"You may have heard about Franklin's Boche. He got it during his first
combat. He didn't know that there was a German in the sky, until he
saw the tracer bullets. Then the machine passed him about thirty
metres away. And he kept going down: may have had motor trouble.
Franklin said that he had never had such a shock in his life. He dived
after him, spraying all space with his Vickers, and he got him!"

"That all depends on the man. In chasse, unless you are sent out on a
definite mission, protecting photographic machines or avions de
bombardement, you are absolutely on your own. Your job is to patrol
the lines. If a man is built that way, he can loaf on the job. He need
never have a fight. At two hundred kilometres an hour, it won't take
him very long to get out of danger. He stays out his two hours and
comes in with some framed-up tale to account for his disappearance:
'Got lost. Went off by himself into Germany. Had motor trouble; gun
jammed, and went back to arm it.' He may even spray a few bullets
toward Germany and call it a combat. Oh, he can find plenty of
excuses, and he can get away with them."

"That's spreading it, Dunham. What about Huston? is he getting away
with it?"

"Now, don't let's get personal. Very likely Huston can't help it.
Anyway, it is a matter of temperament mostly."

"Temperament, hell! There's Van, for example. I happen to know that he
has to take himself by his bootlaces every time he crosses into
Germany. But he sticks it. He has never played a yellow trick. I hand
it to him for pluck above every other man in the squadron."

"What about Talbott and Barry?"

"Lord! They haven't any nerves. It's no job for them to do their work
well."

This conversation continued during the rest of the journey. The life
of a military pilot offers exceptional opportunities for research in
the matter of personal bravery. Dunham and Miller agreed that it is a
varying quality. Sometimes one is really without fear; at others only
a sense of shame prevents one from making a very sad display.

"Huston is no worse than some of the rest of us, only he hasn't a
se