"I do not see a place to put it!" Armengaud cried:
It did not matter to me, although we fell; it was perhaps death, but--Douaumont was ours!
The ground seemed to approach very rapidly; Major Armengaud guided his airplane toward a little prairie north of Dugny, bordered by two gullies. We landed easily on the ground, but our "cuckoo" broke a hidden telephone wire----
"_Hein!_ what do you think about it, Capart?"
"What a spectacle--you're an ace, major!"
I jumped at the same moment under the fuselage to connect the telephone wire he had cut. At the same time the major examined his motor--it was a trivial matter and soon repaired!
At the end of half an hour we got the motor running and once more rose in the air.
Darkness fell and the atmosphere was biting cold. The wind sang in the wings of the machine. When we reached the environs of Lemme, above the forest, it seemed as if we were standing still. It became more and more obscure and I asked myself how we could land. It was black below, but, here, it seemed as if we flew through a sea of blue. The woods appeared a sombre tint and the mist which clung to the branches looked like clusters of fleece on Christmas trees----
The little lights underneath us flickered one after the other, enlivening the vista more and more as they grew more numerous. Streams of camions on the different roads resembled long, phosphorescent worms----
Masses of clouds, strung out like attenuated lawn veils, fluttered quickly past, between us and the ground, completing the fantastic sketch----
I turned yet again. Back of us, one could still perceive the last scintillations of the battle! The bursting shell, which we heard no longer, became long, vivid flames that rose above the horizon----
During those hours I experienced the most stirring moments of my life, and one of the greatest epochs in the history of the world! Thanks, dear bird!
We arrived above the aviation field; the major shouted at me:
"Lean over to the right and keep your eyes open----"
We watched the ground closely so as not to be smashed. What matter, once more, because we are still under the spell of the sight we have just seen----
Descending slowly, our eyes commenced to be accustomed to this obscurity. We recognized the contour of the field, and our old "cuckoo" dropped gently on earth----