Part 35 (1/2)

When John was dressed he walked with Picard into the edge of the forest.

His first steps were wavering, and his head swam a little, but in a few minutes the dizziness disappeared and his walk became steady and elastic. He was his old self again, strong in every fiber. He would certainly be with the Strangers the next morning.

Many more of the wounded, thousands of them, were lying or sitting on the short gra.s.s in the forest. They were the less seriously hurt, and they were cheerful. Some of them sang.

”They'll be going back to the army fast,” said Picard. ”Unless they're torn by shrapnel nearly all the wounded get well again and quickly. The bullet with the great power is merciful. It goes through so fast that it does not tear either flesh or bone. If you're healthy, if your blood is good, psst! you're well again in a week.”

”Do you know if Lieutenant Lannes is expected here?” asked John.

”I heard from Mademoiselle Julie that he would come at set of sun. He has been on another perilous errand. Ah, his is a strange and terrible life, sir. Up there in the sky, a half mile, maybe a mile, above the earth. All the dangers of the earth and those, too, of the air to fight!

Nothing above you and nothing below you. It's a new world in which Monsieur Philip Lannes moves, but I would not go in it with him, not for all the treasures of the Louvre!”

He looked up at the calm and benevolent blue sky and shuddered.

John laughed.

”Some of us feel that way,” he said. ”Many men as brave as any that ever lived can't bear to look down from a height. But sunset is approaching, my gallant Picard, and Lannes should soon be here.”

The rays of the sun fell in showers of red gold where they stood, but a narrow band of gray under the eastern horizon showed that twilight was not far away. The two stood side by side staring up at the heavens, where they felt with absolute certainty the black dot would appear at the appointed time. It was a singular tribute to the courage and character of Lannes that all who knew him had implicit faith in his promises, not alone in his honesty of purpose, but in his ability to carry it out in the face of difficulty and danger. The band of gray in the east broadened, but they still watched with the utmost faith.

”I see something to the eastward,” said John, ”or is it merely a shadow in the sky?”

”I don't think it's a shadow. It must be one of those terrible machines, and perhaps it's that of our brave Monsieur Philip.”

”You're right, Picard, it's no shadow, nor is it a bit of black cloud.

It's an aeroplane, flying very fast. The skies over Europe hold many aeroplanes these days, but I know all the tricks of the _Arrow_, all its pretty little ways, its manner of curving, looping and dropping, and I should say that the _Arrow_, Philip Lannes aboard, is coming.”

”I pray, sir, that you are right. I always hold my breath until he is on the ground again.”

”Then you'll have to make a record in holding breath, my brave Picard.

He is still far, very far, from us, and it will be a good ten minutes before he arrives.”

But John knew beyond a doubt, after a little more watching, that it was really the _Arrow_, and with eager eyes he watched the gallant little machine as it descended in many a graceful loop and spiral to the earth.

They hurried forward to meet it, and Lannes, bright-eyed and trim, sprang out, greeting John with a welcome cry.

”Up again,” he exclaimed, ”and, as I see with these two eyes of mine, as well as ever! And you too, my brave Picard, here to meet me!”

He hastened away with a report, but came back to them in a few minutes.

”Now,” he said, ”We'll go and see my sister.”

John was not at all unwilling.

They found her in one of the new houses of pine boards, and the faithful and stalwart Suzanne was with her. It was the plainest of plain places, inhabited by at least twenty other Red Cross nurses, and John stood on one side until the first greeting of brother and sister was over. Then Lannes, by a word and a gesture, included him in what was practically a family group, although he was conscious that the stalwart Suzanne was watching him with a wary eye.

”Julie and Suzanne,” said Lannes, ”are going tomorrow with other nurses to the little town of Menouville, where also many wounded lie. They are less well supplied with doctors and nurses than we are here. Dr. Delorme goes also with a small detachment as escort. I have asked that you, Monsieur Jean the Scott, be sent with them. Our brave Picard goes too.

Menouville is about eight miles from here, and it's not much out of the way to the front. So you will not be kept long from your Strangers, John.”