[Footnote 13: See _Etude raisonnee de l'aeroplane_, by Jules Bordeaux,
formerly student at Ecole Polytechnique (Gauthier-Billars, edition
1912).]
One of his future comrades, _sous-lieutenant_ Marcel Viallet (who one
day had the honor of bringing down two German airplanes in ten minutes
with seven bullets), thus describes him at the Pau school: "I had
already had my attention drawn to this 'little girl' dressed in a
private's uniform whom one met in the camp, his hands covered with
castor oil, his face all stains, his clothes torn. I do not know what he
did in the workshop, but he certainly did not add to its brilliance by
his appearance. We saw him all the time hanging around the 'zincs.' His
highly interested little face amused us. When we landed, he watched us
with such admiration and envy! He asked us endless questions and
constantly wanted explanations. Without seeming to do so, he was
learning. For a reply to some question about the art of flying, he would
have run to the other end of the camp to get us a few drops of gasoline
for our tanks...."[14]
[Footnote 14: _Le Petit Parisien_, September 27, 1917.
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