[17] The airplane had descended so
low into the mist that it seemed as if magnetically drawn down by the
earth, and the observer, leaning over the edge, was clapping his hands
to applaud the triumph of his comrades. The latter saw his gesture, even
though they could not hear the applause, and cheered him--a spontaneous
exchange of soldierly confidence and affection between the sky and the
earth.
[Footnote 17: See _Les Captifs delivres_.]
Almost exactly one year later, on October 23, 1917, I saw the airplane
of the same division hovering over the Fort of the Malmaison just as the
Giraud battalion of the 4th Zouaves Regiment took possession of it. At
dawn it came to observe and note the site of the commanding officer's
post, and to read the optical signals announcing our success. At each
visit it seemed like the moving star of old, now guiding the new
shepherds, the guardians of our dear human flocks--not over the stable
where a God was born, but over the ruins where victory was born.
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE FIRST FLIGHT IN A BLERIOT]
Later on Captain Colcomb spoke of Guynemer as "the most sublime military
figure I have ever been permitted to behold, one of the finest and
most generous souls I have ever known.
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