“There was nothing for me to do but accept this doubtful honor. Landing spies back of the lines was no child’s play, as you know. If caught, your uniform was no protection. You, too, were classed as a spy and met a spy’s fate.
“However, as it was then only nine-thirty I went back to the mess and had a rubber of bridge before word came that my spy had arrived. I hurried over to the hangar, and as it was a warm night did not stop for a flying suit. I wrapped a muffler around my neck, slipped into my helmet and goggles, and climbed into the machine which the mechanics had all ready with the motor started.
“My passenger was already in the rear seat. I had no time to talk to him. He gave me a jaunty little wave with his hand and then slipped down low in the cockpit out of the way of the wind from the propeller. He looked like any middle-aged French peasant that one might meet on the road.
“Almost automatically I taxied down the field and took off. As I came across the hangars and swung over toward the direction of the lines, I saw that the lights in the hangars were being switched off and knew that all would be darkness there until it was time for my return.
“The motor hummed sweetly and I began looking for landmarks. There was no moon and the earth was a black smudge beneath me. I crossed the lines at a great height and could just discern the Lys River as a dim streak in the inky blackness. There were a few star-shells coming up from the direction of the lines, and here and there an occasional flash of artillery fire. It was a quiet night in this particular sector. A few miles to one side two searchlights were groping aimlessly across the sky. All seemed serene and peaceful up aloft.
“Shutting off my motor so that the propeller was just slowly turning over, I started on a long glide through the darkness. Leaning over the side I tried to pick up the little village that was to be my brief stopping place.
“Lower and lower we slipped through the still air. For a few moments I was a little confused, but upon switching on the light on my instrument board and consulting my map, I located a particular road that led through a large forest. By this time my spy was also leaning far over the side, and as we came lower he pointed out the field we must land in.
“It crossed my mind as we were getting low over the trees that I should have opened up the engine for a few seconds to keep it warm. A long dive such as we had just made was apt to cool it to the point where it might not pick up again when I needed it. But there was no time for that now. We were too low and the noise of it might arouse troops that happened to be in the vicinity. Sideslipping into the field, I straightened out just in time, and we came to a stop beside a fringe of trees.
“My passenger lost no time in getting out. He was just clambering over the side with a parting ‘Au revoir,’ when the motor and my heart-beats stopped at the same time.