Page 64 - 1918 Hartridge

clear and luminous came another vision—of a dauntless ^irl with fair hail- and dee\]) blue eyes, saying’:
“Our country first, Kenneth, even before our love.”
d'he young ca\])tain com\])ressed his li\])s stei’idy; the man in him awoke with every latent \])Ossibility of sii\])reme daring and supreme dying; he (juietly faced the enemy. Time was short; already the great
wedge was se\])arating, and two glittering, unswerving lines were bearing down on him. A sudden dash to the right, and he shot down the enemy’s leader—another to the left, and—but now the German
\])lanes were circling around him, every gnu snarling and s\])itting death. He flashed below them and above them, and now in a great s\])ii’al swee\]) he cri\])\])led two and sent a third darning to the ground. Another ded, but with damaged and unsteady wings, he faced dve new assailants—the other half of the great wedge.
He hurled himself towards them, but they scattered warily from
••
his \])ath, to attack him from the rear. Firing madly, he turned a
somersault and rose behind three of them—only to have one machine
gain a higher altitude. Quickly des\])atching one under him, he darted
aside, hut was 7’aked hv a deadly cross-dre. The fokker above him
•«
dove. He dred his last v’ild volley while three others ded. The fok-
m
ker plunged \]>ast him to earth, coiujiiered hut still dghting. Slowly the ea\])tain was turning for his own lines, when the fokker desperately
righted itself, shot off its last gun, and fell. Hang!!
A tongue of dame lea\])ed tVom the ca\])tain’s petrol tank. His whole machine swayed sickeninglv. His motor missed dre once— twice—thrice—and lay dead. He felt himself whirling and swirling
dizzily downward, and then with a crashing velocity that seemed a
• Cf ft
\])art of death, he fell—and fell—and fell. The smoke and dames
from the tank enveloped him, and he stiffened; he seemed to feel a frightful torture a long, long way off'.
Hnt through his dimming senses one image con(|nered even death —a girl Avith golden hair and dee\]), bine eyes was saying:
“Onr country first, Kenneth, even before our love.” Then the tiny American flag at the \])row went ii\]) in a hurst of flame.
His comrades \])icked ii\]) his broken body a few hours ^ater, and
60