the forest of sword 16

the forest of sword 16

He saw shapes, faint, dark and floating on every horizon, but none of

them came near until a full half-hour had elapsed. Then one shot out of

the west, sailed toward the northeast, but curving suddenly, came back

in the direction of the tree. As the shape grew larger and more defined

John's heart began to throb. He had seen many aeroplanes that day, and

most of them had been swift and graceful, but none was as swift and

graceful as the one that was now coming.

 

It was a machine, beautiful in shape, and as lithe and fast as the

darting swallow. There could be none other like it in the heavens, and

his heart throbbed harder. Intuition, perhaps, was back of knowledge and

he never for a moment doubted that it was he for whom they had looked so

long.

 

The aeroplane seemed fairly to shoot out of space. First its outlines

became visible, and then the man at the rudder. He came straight toward

the tree, dropped low and circled about it, while John rushed from the

vines and cried as loud as he could:

 

"Lannes! Lannes, it's me! John Scott! I've been waiting for you!"

 

The _Arrow_ dropped further, barely touched the earth, and Lannes,

leaning over, shouted to John in tones, tense and sharp with command:

 

"Give the plane a shove with all your might, and jump in. For God's sake

don't linger, man! Jump!"

 

The impulse communicated by Lannes was so powerful that before he knew

what he was doing John pushed the _Arrow_ violently and sprang into the

extra seat, just as it was leaving the earth.

 

Lannes gave the rudder a strong twist and the aeroplane shot up like a

mounting bird. John got back his breath and presence of mind.

 

"Wait, Philip! Wait!" he cried. "We're leaving behind our friend Weber!

He's down there, somewhere by the river!"

 

Lannes made no reply. The _Arrow_ continued its rise, sharp and swift,

and John heard a crackling sound below. Little missiles, steel and

deadly, shot by them. One passed so close to his face that his breath

went again. When he recovered it once more the _Arrow_, its inmates,

unharmed, was far above the range of rifles, flying in a circle.

 

"Look down, John," said Lannes.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER X

 

OLD FRIENDS

 

 

John, obeying Lannes' command, glanced down, as one looks over the side

of a ship toward the sea, and he saw many horsemen galloping across the

field. He recognized at once the Uhlans, and, for all he knew; they

might be von Boehlen's own command.

 

"Hand me your glasses, will you?" he said.

 

When Lannes passed them to him he looked long and well, but he did not

see any sign of a prisoner among the Prussians. He also searched the

woods and other fields near by, but they were empty. The whole Prussian

force was gathered beneath them. John breathed a deep sigh of relief.

 

"It's evident that Weber has escaped," he said. "Doubtless this was the

very troop of Uhlans of which the Alsatian had caught a glimpse. He is

clever and swift and I've no doubt he found a covert."

 

"I'm sorry we had to leave him," said Lannes, "but there was no other

choice. I came to the tree to examine the flag, and being above I saw

the Uhlans nearby before you did. Then I heard your shout and dropped

down. But as I knew the Uhlans were coming for us I made you jump almost

before you knew it, and we got away by a hair. The _Arrow_ was struck

twice, but the bullets glanced off its polished sides. There are two

slight scars, but I can have them removed."

 

John laughed.

 

"Philip," he said, "I believe you love the _Arrow_ as a fellow loves his

best girl."

 

"Well spoken, Monsieur Jean the Scott, and the _Arrow_ never fails me.

And so you've been with Weber?"

 

"It's a long tale. I was in a boat crossing the Marne. It was sunk by

one of the French shells, and I escaped. I reached the deserted cottage

of a peasant, and Weber, who was wandering around, happened to come

there, too. We've been trying to escape today, and we put that flag up

in the tree as a sort of signal, while we hid among the vines below,

until you should come, as he believed you would. He was right, but he

was unlucky enough to be absent when you arrived." "Maybe it couldn't

have happened in a better way. The _Arrow_ can carry only two, and I

don't know what we'd have done with him. He's a clever fellow and he'll

make his way back to the army."

 

"I hope so, in fact I feel so. But, Philip, it's glorious to be with you

again, and to be up here, where the bullets can't reach you."

 

"That is, so long as the German flyers don't come near enough to take

shots at us."

 

"I don't see any in sight, and meanwhile I intend to be comfortable.

Good old _Arrow_! The best little rescuer in the world! Lannes, I

believe it's a large part of your business to fly about over fields of

battle and rescue me."

 

"You certainly give me plenty of opportunities," laughed Lannes.

 

"What's been happening? I fancy that a lot of water has flowed under the

bridges of the Marne since I left you."

 

"We continue to gain," replied Lannes, with quiet satisfaction. "We

press the German armies back everywhere. Our supreme chief is a silent

man, but he has delivered a master stroke. We've emerged from the very

gulf of defeat and despair to the heights of victory. We're not only

driving the Germans across the Marne, but we're driving them further.

Moreover, their armies are cut apart, and one is fighting for its

existence, just as the French and English were fighting for theirs in

that terrible retreat from Mons and Charleroi."

 

"It's glorious, but we mustn't be too sanguine, Lannes. The powers that

overcome the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires will not forget for a

hundred years that they had a war."

 

"You're not telling me any news, Monsieur Jean the Scott. I've been in

Germany often, and like you I've seen what they have and what they are.

We're only beginning."

 

"Where are you going now, Philip?"

 

"Toward the end of our line. I've some dispatches for the commander of

the British force. Your friends, Carstairs and Wharton, are there, and

you may see them. But I understand that the Strangers are to remain with

the French, so you, Carstairs and Wharton will have to consider

yourselves Frenchmen and stay under our banner."

 

"That's all right. I hope we'll be under the command of General

Vaugirard. Do you know anything of him?"

 

"Not today, but he was alive yesterday. Take the glasses now, John, will

you, and be my eyes as you have been before. One needs to watch the

heavens all the time."

 

John took Lannes' powerful glasses, and objects invisible before leaped

into view.

 

"I see two or three rivers, a dozen villages, and troops," he said. "The

troops are to the west, and although they are this side of the Marne, I

should judge that they are ours."

 

"Ours undoubtedly," said Lannes, glancing the way John's glasses

pointed. "Not less than a hundred thousand of our men have crossed the

Marne at that point, and more will soon be coming. It's a part of the

great wedge thrust forward by our chief. But keep your eye on the air,

John. What do you see there?"

 

"Nothing that's near. In the east I barely catch seven or eight black

dots that I take to be German aeroplanes, but they seem to be content

with hovering over their own lines. They don't approach."

 

"Doubtless they don't, because they're beginning to watch the air over

the Marne as a danger zone. That pretty little signal of yours may have

scared them."

 

Lannes laughed. It was evident that he was in a most excellent humor.

 

"All right, have your fun," said John, showing his own teeth in a smile.

"If our flag didn't frighten away the German army it at least achieved

what we wanted, that is, it brought you. The whole episode would be

perfect if it were not for the fact that we lost sight of Weber."

 

"I tell you again not to worry about him. That man has shown uncommon

ability to take care of himself."

 

"All right. I'll let him go for the present. Hello, here we are crossing

the Marne again, and without getting our feet wet."

 

"We're a good half mile above it, but we'll cross it once more soon. I'm

following the shortest road to the British army and that takes us over a

loop of the river."

 

"Yes, here we are recrossing, and now we're coming to a region of

chequered fields, green and brown and yellow. I always like these varied

colors of the French country. It's a beautiful land down there, Philip."

 

"So it is, but see if it isn't defaced by sixty or seventy thousand

sunburnt men in khaki, the khaki often stained with blood. The men, too,

should be tired to death, but you can't tell that from this height."

 

"The British army you mean? Yes, by all that's glorious, I see them, or

at least a part of them! I see thousands of men lying down in the

fields as if they were dead."

 

"They're not dead, though. They just drop in their tracks and sleep in

any position."

 

"I saw the Germans doing that, too. I suppose we'll land soon, Philip,

won't we? They've sighted us and a plane is coming forward to meet us."

 

"We'll make for the meadow over there just beyond the little stream. I

think I can discern the general's marquee, and I must deliver my message