Part 11 (1/2)

An enormous motor vehicle, equipped with all the paraphernalia of a kitchen, stopped near them, and men, trim and neatly dressed, served hot food and steaming coffee. General Vaugirard had alighted also, and John noticed that his step was much more springy and alert than that of some officers half his age. His breath came in great gusts, and the small portion of his face not covered by thick beard was ruddy and glowing with health. He drank several cups of coffee with startling rapidity, draining each at a breath, and between times he whistled softly a pleasing little refrain.

The march must be going well. Undoubtedly General Vaugirard had received satisfactory messages in the night, while his young American aide, and other Frenchmen as young, slept.

”Well, my children,” he said, rubbing his hands after his last cup of coffee had gone to its fate, ”the day dawns and behold the sun of France is rising. It's not the sun of Austerlitz, but a modest republican sun that can grow and grow. Behold we are at the appointed place, set forth in the message that came to us from the commander-in-chief through Paris, and then by way of the air! And, look, my children, the bird from the blue descends once more among us!”

There were flying machines of many kinds in the air, but John promptly picked out one which seemed to be coming with the flight of an eagle out of its uppermost heights. He seemed to know its slim, lithe shape, and the rapidity and decision of its approach. His heart thrilled, as it had thrilled when he saw the _Arrow_ coming for the first time on that spur of the Alps near Salzburg.

”It's for me,” said General Vaugirard, as he looked upward. ”This flying demon, this man without fear, was told to report directly to me, and he conies at the appointed hour.”

Something of the mystery that belongs to the gulf of the infinite was reflected in the general's eyes. He, too, felt that man's flight in the heavens yet had in it a touch of the supernatural. Lannes' plane had seemed to shoot from white clouds, out of unknown s.p.a.ces, and the general ceased to whistle or breathe gustily. His chest rose and fell more violently than usual, but the breath came softly.

The plane descended rapidly and settled down on the gra.s.s very near them. Lannes saluted and presented a note to General Vaugirard, who started and then expelled the breath from his lungs in two or three prodigious puffs.

”Good, my son, good!” he exclaimed, patting Lannes repeatedly on the shoulder; ”and now a cup of coffee for you at once! Hurry with it, some of you idle children! Can't you see that he needs it!”

John was first with the coffee, which Lannes drank eagerly, although it was steaming hot. John saw that he needed it very much indeed, as he was white and shaky. He noticed, too, that there were spots of blood on Lannes' left sleeve.

”What is it, Philip?” he whispered. ”You've been attacked again?”

”Aye, truly. My movements seem to be observed by some mysterious eye. A shot was fired at me, and again it came from a French plane. That was all I could see. We were in a bank of mist at the time, and I just caught a glimpse of the plane itself. The man was a mere shapeless figure to me. I had no time to fight him, because I was due here with another message which made vengeance upon him at that time a matter of little moment.”

He flecked the red drops off his sleeve, and added:

”It was but a scratch. My weary look comes from a long and hard flight and not from the mysterious bullet. I'm to rest here an hour, which will be sufficient to restore me, and then I'm off again.”

”Is there any rule against your telling me what you've seen, Philip?”

De Rougemont and several other officers had approached, drawn by their curiosity, and interest in Lannes.

”None at all,” he replied in a tone all could hear, ”but I'm able to speak in general terms only. I can't give details, because I don't know 'em. The Germans are not many miles ahead. They're in hundreds of thousands, and I hear that this is only one of a half-dozen armies.”

”And our own force?” said de Rougemont eagerly.

Lannes' chest expanded. The dramatic impulse was strong upon him again.

”There is another army on our right, and another on our left,” he replied, ”and although I don't know surely, I think there are others still further on the line. The English are somewhere with us, too.”

John felt his face tingle as the blood rose in it. He had left a Paris apparently lost. Within a day almost a tremendous transformation had occurred. A mighty but invisible intellect, to which he was yet scarcely able to attach a name, had been at work. The French armies, the beaten and the unbeaten, had become bound together like huge links in a chain, and the same invisible and all but nameless mind was drawing the chain forward with gigantic force.

”A million Frenchmen must be advancing,” he heard Lannes saying, and then he came out of his vision. General Vaugirard bustled up and gave orders to de Rougemont, who said presently to John:

”Can you ride a motor cycle?”

”I've had some experience, and I'm willing to make it more.”

”Good. In this army, staff officers will no longer have horses shot under them. We're to take orders on motor cycles. They've been sent ahead for us, and here's yours waiting for you.”

The cycles were leaning against trees, and the members of the staff took their places beside them. General Vaugirard walked a little distance up the road, climbed into an automobile and, standing up, looked a long time through his gla.s.ses. Lannes, who had been resting on the gra.s.s, approached the general and John saw him take a note from him. Then Lannes went away to the _Arrow_ and sailed off into the heavens. Many other planes were flying over the French army and far off in front John saw through his own gla.s.ses a fleet of them which he knew must be German.

Then he heard a sound, faint but deep, which came rolling like an echo, and he recognized it as the distant note of a big gun. He quivered a little, as he leaned against his motor cycle, but quickly stiffened again to attention. The faint rolling sound came again from their right and then many times. John, using his gla.s.ses, saw nothing there, and the giant general, still standing up in the car and also using his gla.s.ses, saw nothing there either.