orderly and straightway climbed aboard.

His companions were not slow to follow his example and a moment later
they were whizzing at breakneck speed along the highway.

"Where are we being sent?" demanded Earl, who all this time had been
consumed with intense curiosity.

Jacques merely shrugged his shoulders. "I do not know," he said.

"Say," exclaimed Leon suddenly, "what's this driver trying to do; kill
us? Personally I'd rather be killed in battle if I must die. An
automobile accident seems out of place in war."

"He's going some all right, isn't he?" cried Earl. "I'd like it th----"

His words were suddenly cut short. The driver swung the car sharply to
the right to avoid a huge shell-hole blown in the middle of the
highway; he did not slacken his speed one bit, however. Earl was
thrown off the seat violently and found himself on the floor of the
car; Jacques landed there beside him at the same time.

"This is pretty bad," exclaimed Earl. "I agree with you, Leon; he
ought to stop it."

"But he won't," announced Jacques. "They all go like this."

"Well, I'll certainly be glad when it's over," said Earl grimly. "I
can't get up onto the seat again."

"Don't try," advised Jacques. "We'll soon be there."

"If we're not all dead," murmured Earl.

Presently, however, the speed slackened and the machine came to a stop.
An aviation field with hangars all around appeared some half mile
distant.

"Here we are," announced the orderly, stepping from the car.

"How fast were we going there, Leon?" inquired Earl as they hastened to
follow their guide.

"Seventy miles an hour," said Leon. "Did you like it?"

"I did _not_," said Earl warmly. "That's too fast for me."

"Wait until we get into our aeroplane," warned Jacques. "We'll travel
a hundred miles an hour easily."

"There are no shell-holes in the air anyway," said Earl. "We can't be
wrecked that way as we nearly were back there on the road."

"Don't you believe it," exclaimed Jacques. "When they begin firing at
us from the German trenches you'll find there are plenty of shell-holes
in the air all right."

"By the way, haven't you any idea where we're going?"

"None at all. All I know is that this orderly is instructed to take us
somewhere over here where we'll get our orders."

"Who was that man who talked to us?" asked Leon. "They called him
'general.'"

"That was General Petain," said Jacques. "Didn't you know him?"

"I never s