James R. Driscoll

“ Ask anyone who knows, and he will tell you that there is nothing to compare to the zest of the aerial flight. Those contemplating it for the first time view it with mixed feelings of trepidation and anticipation, but once in flight there is only unbounded exhilaration. The experience is like that of throwing off shackles which have bound one to a narrow earthly existence; mere human cares and worries are for the time at least forgotten, and one feels the freedom of the birds and glows with the very pleasure of it. ”

“ Shrapnel and whiz-bangs could not cover the ground, but it seemed as though the rain of machine-gun bullets that suddenly swept down from the thickets and rocks of the great hillside which loomed ahead must reach every inch of space.
“Double quick! Charge!” came the order, echoed from mouth to mouth by under-officers and still, like one man, that khaki-clad host went at it on the run. Every man saw that the more quickly the work was done the better chances he and his fellows had for surviving that leaden hail. ”

“ Clear across the wide slanting deck of the Dominion he was hurled until he brought up hard against the rotted deck rail.
Like a drowning man grasping for a straw Jay reached out to clutch the iron post outlined directly in front of him; but as he grabbed its top knob he felt the whole structure rend and twist, its fastenings loosened by the rust of a prolonged submergence. The impact of the young diver's body wrenched it loose and in a moment Jay was hurtled overboard from the inclined deck of the Dominion and enmeshed in a tangle of the collapsed deck railing. ”

“ Rocks that had been part of the trench formation were thrown in all directions, dealing death and injury as surely as the explosive itself.
The inadvertent first cry of a dozen injured men was enough to shake the nerves of the strongest; for after all in warfare, it is not so much the risking, or even the giving, of one’s life, as it is the agonized suffering of others dying that makes a man quake, and for the moment falter.
Tom leaned over toward Harper and tried to shout something in his ear, but the effort was as useless as though the one had been dumb and the other deaf. ”

“ Limp and to all appearances lifeless, Andy had been "hung" across the framework with a nicety of balance which the others at the time had not realized. When he moved all was different.
The equilibrium was lost, and Andy, with one wild and ineffective grasp at the empty air, came down with a thump and a grunt—a very life-like grunt—into the fuselage of the plane.
Despite their own miseries, the others could not help but smile. Andy gave a puzzled glance around, seemed to have his first realization of where he was, and, perhaps, an inkling of how he got there, and then he, too, grinned weakly. ”

“ The big wasp turned a beautiful arc, swiftly, neatly, as if it had known the game and was eager to take part in it. No machine could have performed a more perfect loop; and, as he had hoped, it brought him in the rear of the group of assailants. The center one of the three enemy planes was nearest to him. Straight at it Jimmy dashed, and when close, started firing. It was the first time in his life that Jimmy had tried to take a human life, but he did not give that fact a thought. ”

“ And thus, too dog-tired even for dreams, as oblivious to all that was going on about them as they were themselves for the time completely forgotten by the officers and men of their own company, they slept on and on, hour after hour, unmindful and unknowing that overhead—above the dark and hidden hole in which they lay unheeded—their own advance army had moved out, and entirely vanished in pursuit of the enemy; the whole American movement pushing forward, circling about them, leaving them alone, forgotten, abandoned. ”

“ It came at them like a small typhoon of white and blue smoke, showing again the iridescent colors, the gray-black center of its spreading force, and this time there was no Susan Nipper to disperse the poisonous fumes with her fiery tongue lashes sent into their midst.
Herbert knew the awful danger that confronted them and he feared that his men, with only the lust of battle in their eyes, hardly comprehended it. He turned and dashed down the line.
"Your masks, men! Every man get on his gas mask! Keep your wits about you! ”

“ Efforts at sleep were futile for the most part, although dauntless spirits like Bill Witt and Mike Mowrey turned in as usual and dozed away as peacefully as though no danger existed. Midnight and high tide kindled fresh hopes as "Little Mack" steeled himself for a last try with the Dewey's hardworked engines. Jack and Ted had spent the long evening in the wireless room with Sammy Smith, hearing not so much as a trace of a passing vessel. Eagerly they awaited the last herculean effort for freedom. ”

“ Up the slopes of the hill he could now see the indomitable marines, still charging, overcoming all opposition, destroying the machine-gun nests, bayoneting the gunners, and defeating every attempt of the enemy to check their attack. On into the fields—to the very foot of the hill—Don drove his car, looking to the right and left for blessés. The bullets, as never before, sung around him, threshing out the grass and grain, and tearing up the blood-red poppies. ”

“ The countless fires of monster furnaces and factories, thousand upon thousand, glared into the night. The tall chimneys and furnace stacks belched forth red, yellow, and white flame as the munition works were pressed to their utmost to produce the sinews of war for the guns along the line over which the squadron had come.
By a certain point of identification all of the fliers knew Dusseldorf when that large factory center was reached. So far they had not seen an enemy plane. Essen was not far ahead now. ”

“ The battle was now becoming hotter with each moment, for while the first wave of shock troops was going forward with unconquerable valor, the Germans who were on the very rear of a vast retreating host were stubbornly contesting each foot of the way, marveling at the bravery of their opponents, not realizing that the avalanche of men throwing themselves upon them were fighting, not because they had been ordered or compelled to, but because they had before them every instant of the time the ideal of liberty and freedom which brought the United States into the conflict. ”

“ At last came the moment when the commander of the submarine flotilla decided to climb to the surface and make an observation.
With every man standing to his post of duty and every nerve strained for the next move, the signal to pump out ballast was given and the Monitor turned her diving rudders to ascend. Soon her periscopes thrust their eyes out of the depths.
"Look! there, off our port bow!" exclaimed Jack to his chief.
McClure saw it, too, at the same moment—-a giant German battle cruiser lying broadside to the harbor entrance and every gun belching forth fire at the allied fleet outside! ”

“ Suiting action to words, Jay broke into a run, closely followed by Dick and Larry, with Fismes flying at their heels, barking furiously.
Like a flying wedge the trio of sturdy war veterans descended upon the wrangling mob. Coming closer, the boys found the central figure in the mass now defending himself against clenched fists that were reaching out from every direction, trying to land blows on his face and body. He was a stalwart man of middle age who was hammering back blow for blow now against the heavy odds pressing against him. ”

“ Herbert guessed it was some kind of a linnet and wished that he might calmly arise without a sense of danger and go to spy on the singer. A plucky, little feathered adventurer it must be, indeed, to boldly invade this area of killing and to give such small heed to the deafening boom of great cannon and the frequent crackle of rifles and machine guns.
McGuire it was who crept on hands and knees or advanced in a stooping posture, according to the depth of the sheltering stones or bushes between himself and the enemy, and when within speaking distance of Herbert, began a desultory conversation. ”

“ To see Joe, in a wasp of a plane, swift and agile, start it whirling like a pinwheel with the tip of its own wing as an axis, and fall for thousands of feet as it whirled, only to catch himself and right the speedy plane when lees than a thousand feet from the earth, was indeed a sight to make one hold one's breath. ”

“ As they passed the rugged coast of Maine they could hear great waves pounding on the rocky shore, but it came up to them only dimly against the throbbing of their engines and the soothing song of the resistless propellers.
Dawn found them above a coast line which none of them knew. It was bleak and barren, with no evidences of population upon it.
"Just as I reckoned," said Don, easily. "The wind got behind us stronger than we knew. We've more than covered our destination. We're heading for Labrador, and, at this rate, the North Pole."
The navigator was right. ”

“ But once past that point where they might hit or run down their own men, the tanks proceeded with all the power and speed they possessed straight for the sapling wood and the wire entanglements in front of it. Machine gun bullets pelted against their tops and sides as harmlessly as drops of rain upon a roof. Invincible to everything but the larger guns, which had not yet made their range, so viciously did the Americans in the skies fight off the enemy observers, they plodded on, barbed wire twisting and snapping, trees cracking off and falling before their terrible assault. ”

“ Oh and ever on, rumbled the camions, the yellow lorries with the marines, and Don expected again to catch sight of Clem Stapley. However, it was not these fighting men that most interested him, for on this Rheims road the boy saw for the first time what he would probably never see again—refugees, fleeing from the German army.
It was a sight never to be forgotten—one to wring pity out of the most stony-hearted, [144] to sober the most waggish, to sadden the gentler-minded as hardly even death, or the suffering of the wounded could do. ”

“ And then, while the Dewey was straining in every steel sinew, her commander reached forward and touched off the four torpedoes in rapid succession.
The little submersible seemed torn by an internal explosion. As each torpedo shot out into the water the vessel shook under the force of the explosion, rocking to and fro under the concussion.
"We're off; we're off," shouted McClure as he bent over the depth dial. The hands of the indicator began to spin around and the Dewey, relieved of every pound of ballast, shot upward like a rocket. ”

“ Seymour, now quite at ease in the diving chamber that had been both a riddle and a nightmare to him when he came below for the first time, nonchalantly sat down on the floor of the Nautilus and thrust his legs out into the sea. With no more effort than though he were hauling out a huge sea carp, he leaned down and tore from its rusted fastenings the binnacle lamp of the E-70. ”

“ While Joe was not far up, he had never flown a machine before at that height, and consequently his volplane seemed to occupy a longer time than it should have done. His fingers itched to start the engine again and raise the elevator just enough to arrest the downward swoop, and transform it into a soft glide, nicely calculated so that it would bring the wheels of the chassis into contact with the ground without any shock. He was over-keen on that landing, realizing that so many pairs of eyes were on him.
The earth came up toward him just a shade too fast to suit him. ”

“ It was absolutely impossible to make the human voice heard. When an officer wished to issue some brief order, it was only by signs that he could make himself understood.
Hour after hour it continued without the slightest halt.
Tom Walton began to wonder how much longer it would continue—how much longer such an earth-shaking onslaught could continue. Men who have gone through it know that the strain of such a thing, the absolutely inactive and helpless waiting, is the worst mental torture of all warfare, and far worse than rushing forth into battle which may mean almost certain death. ”

“ The birds were singing everywhere, even amidst the desolate scenes of battle. Except where the shells and shrapnel of the opposing armies had torn the ground and battered the forests, there was the peacefulness over all and beauty of the new life of the season. Even now not far back from the fighting front of the Allies, some daring tillers of the soil were making ready to plant their crops. ”

“ Half an hour later a score of young men, ruddy of complexion, clear of eye, supple of action, men who did not know the meaning of physical fear, were gathered together in the spirit of schoolboys on the big field that fronted the giant hangars in which were stored the powerful machines that soon were to vie with each other, even as now their pilots and mechanics were about to do, in a historical contest of the air. ”

“ He paused for a moment to let the import of his words sink home.
"But, Herr Schmidt, we do not propose to stay down here and wait for death to claim us," he continued calmly. "Life is sweet to us just as it is sweet to you. We are all here together, prisoners and captors, and if we live you live; if we die you die.
"Now here is what I propose to do. This, as you see, is a former U-boat of your navy that fell into our hands. You are a brave German captain and I am sorry to have had to sink your ship. But there is a way that you can save yourself and the men who survived with you. ”