This was really too much: was he going to lose his prey?
Suddenly he had an idea. He landed in a field near Compiegne. It was
Sunday, and just noon, and he knew that his parents would be coming home
from mass. He watched for them, and as soon as he perceived his father
rushed to him:
"Father, I have lost my Boche."
"You have lost your Boche?"
"Yes, an airplane that I have forced down. I must return to my
escadrille, but I don't want to lose him."
"What can I do?"
"Why, look for him and find him. He ought to be near Bailly, towards the
Bois Carre."
And he vanished, leaving to his father the task of finding the lost
airplane as a partridge is found in a field of lucerne. The military
authority kindly lent its aid, and in fact the body of the German pilot
was discovered on the edge of the Bois Carre, where it was buried.
This victory was ratified, but a few days later the authorities, failing
to find the necessary material proof, refused to give Guynemer credit
for it. Ah, the regulations refuse the hunter this game? Guynemer,
turning very red, declared: "It doesn't matter, I will get another.
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