wings and body of their machines. The aeroplane that has the most is the
cock machine of the squadrilla--six in the squadrilla--and holds the
title until some one gets a bigger peppering and displaces him. They are
very jealous of this distinction, and the counting has to be very
carefully carried out by an impartial jury, for the cock aeroplane has
the honor of carrying the mascot of the squadrilla.




_Saturday, August 29._


Twenty-seventh day of the war. Sultry weather, with light northerly
breezes. Temperature at five P.M. 26 degrees centigrade.

"Hold tight!" Such is the watchword given by the French Government, and
French and British soldiers are holding tight for all they are worth
against the slowly advancing German armies. Heavy fighting all along the
lines from the Somme to the Vosges continues without a break. The
Prussian Guard Corps and the Tenth German Army Corps have been driven
back to Guise, in the department of the Aisne (one hundred and ninety
kilometers from Paris), but on the French left the Germans have fought
their way to La Fere (northwest of Laon, about one hundred and forty
kilometers from Paris). In the eastern theater of the war, Koenigsberg
has been invested by the Russians under Rennenkampf, who continue their
advance towards Berlin.

Paris begins to realize that the war is coming closer to them, by the
following official announcement: