General Hood possessed but two aeroplanes. It was madness to send them up against two hundred of the enemy. By an accident to his machinery a taube had fallen within our lines. The men had been captured, their uniforms taken, and delivered to General Hood. The machinery of the hostile aeroplane was promptly repaired, our blond sky pilot forced himself into the greenish-gray suit and stood by waiting for the chance to rise in a cloud of smoke and take his chance among the enemy as a spy.
At noon a wave of fog slowly crept in from sea and the guns had died away. As the mist rolled over the battlefield Hood stood beside the courier of the skies.
“Up with you now, boy, in this fog bank. Mix with the enemy and take your chances. Stay until the firing is resumed and give me the position of their guns. I must know whether we have reached them with our shells.”
The birdman saluted and swung the taube into the clouds. He circled toward the sea and disappeared in the mists.
It was three o’clock in the afternoon before he landed far in the rear of our lines and made his way by automobile to headquarters.
Hood sprang from his desk and rushed to meet him.
“Got over their lines all right, sir,” the scout answered. “Watched our shells for an hour. Not one of them fell closer than half a mile short of their batteries.”
“All right. It’s as I thought. You’re a brave boy, my son. You’re marked for promotion for this day’s work.”
There was nothing to be done but move his lines five miles back to the second trenches. They were being pounded into pulp without a chance to strike back.
We had exhausted half our stock of shells without scoring a hit. Our losses in men and guns had been frightful. The tragic feature of the day was the loss of trained artillerymen whose places could not be filled. It takes three years to train the man behind the gun.
By daylight the retreat of five miles had been effected. The ground in front was more favorable here for long range work. From captive balloons the position of the batteries could be located. We hoped that some of them could be reached and put out of action. If so, we would give them a taste of cold steel.
All night the great guns growled in the distance while our shattered lines retreated and reformed in the second intrenchments.