As he had told the Walsen girl once, when she remonstrated with him
upon his temerity in the face of what more than once looked like
certain death:
"Reckon I don't know that, miss? You bet I do! But, somehow, death
don't come just then and -- and I keep on riskin' some more. I - I
guess I'm jest built that way."
The German, who was rather clumsy, kept on along his eastward flight,
with Buck in hot pursuit. Getting closer, Bangs again opened up with
his Lewis. What was his surprise to see the clumsy German crumple up
in his seat and fall forward, his hands and part of his arms out of
sight, as well as the other could see in the starlit night.
"I believe I got him at last," thought Buck, maneuvering to a closer
position. "I'll fill him and his tank full of holes, then see what has
happened."
But just before Buck came into position, the German's plane suddenly
veered athwart the nose of the other and deftly dove almost directly
downward. The turn was a surprise. But Buck instantly knew that no
machine, unless some one was handling the controls, would do a thing
like that. Instantly he knew that the clumsiness of that Boche must
have been assumed for the purpose of inducing Bangs to follow, thus
leading the two planes away from the Allied squadron.
"Fritzy is sharper than I gave him credit for being," thought Buck.
"But he'll not get under me in that way without doing more stunts yet.
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