Paris! The Bavarian officer shrieking something to me. Though the motor almost drowned, I understood what he meant. I glanced at the benzine indicator. I possessed sufficient oil. Paris it would be! Steering toward the south, we journeyed for half an hour, and then out of the distance, far, far below, the gray stone housetops of the French capital took shape. Something impelled me to increase our speed, and we raced toward the city at seventy miles an hour. Incredibly fast Paris becomes clearer and more distinct. The chain of the forts St. Denis! Montmartre stands out through the mist! The iron pillars of the Eifel Tower!... We are directly above Paris. The major points below with his finger; then he slowly turns to me, raises himself from his seat and shouts, "Hurrah!" And I? From sheer joy, mother, I nearly went out of my mind. I began to make the wildest circles in the air. I felt I could do anything. There the white Sacred Heart Church, here the Gare du Nord, there Notre Dame, there the old "Boul Mich," where as a student I had so often caroused and which now, as conqueror, I soared above. The heart of the enemy seemed defenseless; the proud, gleaming Seine lay below me. Everything horrible which I always thought of Paris as possessing vanished--only an impression of the wonderful and the great remained; and I loved Paris more as a conqueror. Over the housetops I swung in great circles. Little dots in the streets showed me that crowds were gathering. They could not understand how a German could handle the French invention more skilfully and advantageously than the French themselves. They began to shoot at us. It was fine. They were very bad shots. I felt like dropping a bomb--not to kill them, but simply to see something blown up. Then from the direction of Juvisy came a French monoplane. As it was more swift than my biplane, I had to turn and try to escape. My Bavarian comrade prepared my rifle and seized his pistol. The Frenchman approached closer and closer. I attempted to reach the protecting clouds at 6,000 feet, but my pursuer flew swifter than we, ever nearer and nearer. Suddenly I became aware of a second monoplane only 500 yards away. It attempted to block my path. We had to act. I shot at the airman ahead of us. Then a turn and the Major took aim. He shot once, twice, three times. The enemy's machine, which was now next to us only 100 yards away, toppled, tilted upward, and then fell to the ground like a stone. But our other pursuer was almost on top of us and shot at us with pistols. Close to the gas lever a bullet hit the fuselage. Then impenetrable fog concealed us from the enemy. I could hear the buzz of his motor grow fainter and fainter.