One officer tried to dispel the
cloud by suggesting hypotheses. Guynemer was lucky, had always been;
probably he was alive, a prisoner.
Guynemer a prisoner!... He had said one day with a laugh, "The Boches
will never get me alive," but his laugh was terrible. No, Guynemer could
not have been taken prisoner. Where was he, then?
On the squadron log, _sous-lieutenant_ Bozon-Verduraz wrote that evening
as follows:
_Tuesday, September 11, 1917._ Patrolled. Captain Guynemer started
at 8.25 with _sous-lieutenant_ Bozon-Verduraz. Found missing after
an engagement with a biplane above Poelkapelle (Belgium).
That was all.
IV. THE VIGIL
Before Guynemer, other knights of the air, other aces, had been reported
missing or had perished--some like Captain Le Cour Grandmaison or
Captain Auger in our lines, others like Sergeant Sauvage and
_sous-lieutenant_ Dorme in the enemy's. In fact, he would be the
thirteenth on the list if the title of ace is reserved for aviators to
whom the controlling board has given its vise for five undoubted
victories. These were the names:
Captain Le Cour Grandmaison 5 victories
Sergeant Hauss 5 "
_sous-lieutenant_ Delorme 5 "
_sous-lieutenant_ Pegoud 6 "
_sous-lieutenant_ Languedoc 7 "
Captain Auger 7 "
Captain Doumer 7 "
_sous-lieutenant_ Rochefort 7 "
Sergeant Sauvage 8 "
Captain Matton 9 "
Adjutant Lenoir 11 "
_sous-lieutenant_ Dorme 23 "
Would Guynemer's friends now have to add: Captain Guynemer, 53? Nobody
dared to do so, yet nobody now dared hope.
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