This frail, sickly Guynemer, twice refused by the army because of
feebleness of constitution, never gave up. In proportion as the
requirements of aviation became more severe, as the higher altitudes
reached made it more exhausting, Guynemer seemed to prolong his flights
to the point where overwork and nervous depression compelled him to go
away and take a little rest--which made him suffer still more. And
suddenly, before he had taken the necessary repose, he threw it off like
ballast, and returning to camp, reappeared in the air, like the falcon
in the legend of Saint Julien the Hospitaller: "The bold bird rose
straight in the air like an arrow, and there could be seen two spots of
unequal size which turned and joined, and then disappeared in the
heights of heaven. The falcon soon descended, tearing some bird to
pieces, and returned to his perch on the gauntlet, with his wings
quivering."[21] Thus the victorious Guynemer came back, quivering, to
the aviation field. Truly, a god possessed him.
[Footnote 21: Flaubert.]
Apart from all that, he was just a boy, simple, gay, tender, and
charming.
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