Yet it was inconceivable that such a piece of news
should not have been circulated; and, in fact, yesterday a message
dropped by a German airplane on the British lines, concerning several
English aviators killed or in hospital, was completed by a note saying
that Captain Guynemer had been brought down at Poelkapelle on September
10, at 8 A.M. But could this message be credited? Both the day
and hour it stated were wrong. On September 10 at 8 A.M.
Guynemer was alive, and even the next day he had not left the camp at
the hour mentioned. An English newspaper had announced his
disappearance, and perhaps the enemy was merely using the information.
The mystery remained unsolved.
As we were discussing these particulars, the last airplanes were
landing, one after another, and Guynemer's companions offered their
reasons for hoping, or rather believing; but none seemed convinced by
his own arguments. Their inner conviction must be that their young chief
is dead; and besides, what is death, what is life, to devoting one's all
to France?
Captain d'Harcourt had succeeded Major Brocard pro tem as commandant of
the unit.
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