Next day he flew
three times, and was unlucky again every time. On his first flight, on
his two-gun machine, he found that the water-pump control did not work,
and had to land on a Belgian aerodrome, where he was welcomed and
asked to sit for his photograph. The picture shows a worried, tense,
disquieting countenance under the mask ready to be pulled down. After
frightening the enemy so long, Guynemer was now frightening his friends.
[Illustration: "GOING WEST"]
The photograph taken, Guynemer flew back to camp. The best for him,
under the circumstances, would have been to wait. Was he not hourly to
hear that he might go to the Buc works for his machine? And what was the
use of flying on an unsatisfactory airplane? But Guynemer was not in
Flanders to wait. He wanted his quarry, and he wanted to set an example
to and galvanize his men, and even the infantry. So, Deullin being
absent, Guynemer borrowed his machine, and at last discovered a chain of
German flyers, whom he attacked regardless of their number. But four
bullets hit his machine and one damaged the air-pump, an accident which
not only compelled him to land but to return by motor to the aerodrome.
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