Page:Air Service Boys Flying for France.djvu/170

Rh field, their work successfully accomplished for that day.

The landing was made without a hitch. Tom immediately became aware of the fact that there was a most terrible din going on all around him. Up to that moment he had almost been unacquainted with the fact, because his own motor kept up such an incessant noise close to his ears.

"Tired though he certainly was, the young aviator could not think of seeking rest. He managed to get a bite to eat, for he was very hungry after his frigid experience aloft. Then with his glasses betook himself to a convenient place of observation, from which he could watch much that was going on, particularly in the regions above.

But the Teutons had virtually given up all attempts to fight for air supremacy on that particular day. They had been sadly outnumbered and outclassed in most of the fights by the British, French and American fliers with whom they had found themselves faced.

Of course the story was not all onesided. There had been times when it was the Boche flier that proved to be the more skillful; and several French pilots had been dropped. One of these had fallen in the open space between the hostile lines. He was only wounded it