His old friend, Captain Heurtaux, so long Commander of the
Storks, was not there; he had been wounded the day before by an
explosive bullet, and the English had picked up and evacuated him.
Heurtaux possessed infinite tact, and had not infrequently succeeded in
influencing the rebellious Guynemer; but nobody was there to replace
him. September 5 was a day of extraordinary activity for Guynemer. His
magic airplane was still at the works, where he had complained of not
having another in reserve; and not being able to wait for it, he sent
for his old machine and immediately attacked a D.F.W. at close quarters,
as usual; but the Boche was saved by the jamming of both of Guynemer's
guns, and the aviator had to get back to his landing-ground. Furious at
this failure, he promptly soared up again and attacked a chain of five
one-seated planes, hitting two, which however managed to protect each
other and escape. After two hours and a half, Guynemer went home again,
overhauled his guns, found a trigger out of order, and for the third
time went up again, scouring the sky for two more hours, indignant to
see nothing but prudent Germans keeping far out of his reach.
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