POET AS BOMB-THROWER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11578, 23 December 1915, Page 7

POET AS BOMB-THROWER.

D'ANNUNZIO'S PREDICAMENT. PARIS. October 18. M. Jean Canrerc, the well-known Romo correspondent of "Le Temps, sends an account of a long conversation •with Signor Gabriele d'Annunzio, in the course of whirii the pool described the thrilling experiences of bis flight above Trieste on August 7 last. D'Annunzio. by the way, still has tint bullet which grazed his elbow and lodged in the fusilage of the waterplane on that memorable day. It is now mounted on a circlet, of gold. bearing tho inscription, "Trieste, 7 agosto, 19lo."

"It was on the return journey," explained the poet. " that I experienced the real emotion. We had taken with us eight bombs, intending to lot them drop on the warships and oil the forts surrounding the city. The first seven fell successfully, as and where we wished. But when it came to the turn of the eighth bomb, for some reason or other which I cannot explain, the mechanism went wrong and tho bomb stuck fast, half protruding, but defying out utmost efforts to release it. On the other hand it might at any moment drop of itself. " The position was extremely critical. The Austrian waterplanes were in hot pursuit and if was time for us to return to Venice. At any sudden jerk en' our machine the bond) might explode, to our utter destruction. But soon there ,were still graver dangers. We Avere now Hearing Venice at full speed and a double peril threatened; cither tho bomb might explode just as the hydroplane struck the surface of the water, dealing death and destruction in the dock, or it might drop just, an we were passing over the roofs of tho city. " This idea haunted and tortured me. Imagine me, the lover of Venice, the passionate poet of Venice, its would-be defender—imagine me, I say, causing the destruction of a single one of its houses, or the death of one of its children! I confess that never in my life have I experienced such terror. So, while with my left hand I continued pumping petrol, with my right, plunged as far as it woidd go, I held on to the explosive engine with all tho strength of a tenfold determination.

"At last we passed over the Lido and over the. houses of Venice, and, thanks to the pilot's' faultless skill, settled gently on the unruffl bosom of a dock protected from ilie wind, and all was saved! But what minutes I had lived ! The Venetians, who wanted to give me an ovation, noticed that I was rather pale. T should thiuk so! They Jittie suspected how near I had been to bombarding them involuntarily!"