om his knee.
"But he will want the most careful attention. The whole thing is
marvellous. There is not one man in a thousand that could have lived
through such an adventure!"

The _pilote aviateur_ opened his eyes, for he had heard the surgeon's
words.

"Mon General," he said, but so faintly that the Commander of the French
Armies had to stoop over him, "I should not have lived if it had not
been for my companion. He is brave, that boy--oh, braver than I can make
you understand. But, mon General," and a wistful look came into the
deep-sunk eyes, "they have taken my Cross of the Legion and destroyed
it!"

"You were a chevalier of the Order, mon lieutenant, if I remember," said
the Generalissimo. "The Republic does not forget her sons when they
behave as you have behaved. You shall have another Cross, and this time
it will be the Cross of an Officer of the Legion of Honour. And listen!
The English lieutenant shall have one too, if the word of Cesar Joffre
carries any weight in France. Messieurs, let us salute these two brave
men who have both deserved so well of the Republic!" And, lifting his
kepi, the gallant Frenchman kissed Dennis on both cheeks amid a burst of
generous applause that came from the hearts of all of them.

"_Cher ami_," whispered Claude Laval, "if you see my brother, you will
tell him of our little escapade, hein?"

Dennis pressed Laval's left hand in both his own as he left him with a
happy smile on his face; and with a last look at the Aviatik, followed
General Joffre to his automobile.

"Adieu, lieutenant!" said the great soldier, with a lingering grip after
an interview that lasted half an hour, "I have no other message for your
General. He will find it all written in that envelope, which you will
give him."

"Now, Martique," said Dennis, settling himself beside him in the motor,
"I am in your hands." And almost before the car had started, Second
Lieutenant Dennis Dashwood, of the 2/12 Battalion, Royal Reedshire
Regiment, was sound asleep!

* * * * *

"Oh, hang it, Martique! What did you wake me for? I haven't been asleep
five minutes," grumbled Dennis. And then he sat bolt upright as he
recognised the handsome face of the man who had shaken him by the
shoulder, and saw the amused smile in his eyes.

"It is a good car, I admit," said Sir Douglas Haig. "But I hardly think
it has done the mileage between this place and Bar-le-Duc in so short a
time as that,