He felt the controls of the Camel get sloppy and knew he could get it to climb no higher.
If Commander Proells could get up another couple of hundred feet he could not attack him with any chance of success.
But the crew of the great Zeppelin apparently did not see the tiny midge in the sun, for they held on their course at the same height.
At forty-one minutes after nine o'clock, one hour after Cully had left the lighter in the Camel, the two machines met head on, the airship only two hundred feet above the aeroplane.
Cully pulled back his controls and stalled his machine until the Camel was almost standing on its tail.
As the bow of the Zeppelin came into his sight he started both Lewis guns. The port gun jammed after fifteen rounds. But the other gun ran through its tray of ninety-seven rounds.
Cully looking through his telescopic sight, saw the flaming incendiary bullets darting into the dark belly of the airship.
He also saw a side of one of the four gondolas, a propeller flapping slowly around, and was three-quarters of the way down the body of the airship when his second gun stopped owing to the lack of ammunition.
So intent was he on the job that he did not know whether he was being fired at or not, but rather thought he was not.
With the stopping of his second gun he dived away to the right, looking back over his shoulder. The Zeppelin was going strong. It appeared to be undamaged. He had failed.