"

"Yes."

"So Djack came after me--hearing rumours of Prussians in that direction.
They were true--oh, God!--and the Prussians caught us there where you
found us."

She bowed her supple figure double on the seat, covering her face with her
sun-browned hands.

The airman drove on, whistling "La Brabanconne" under his breath, and deep
in thought. From time to time he glanced at the curved figure beside him;
but he said no more for a long time.

Toward sunset they drove into the Sainte Lesse highway.

He spoke abruptly, dryly:

"Anybody can weep for a friend. But few avenge their dead."

She looked up, bewildered.

They drove under the old Sainte Lesse gate as he spoke. The sunlight lay
pink across the walls and tipped the turret of the watch tower with fire.

The town seemed very still; nothing was to be seen on the long main street
except here and there a Spahi horseman _en vidette_, and the clock-tower
pigeons circling in their evening flight.

The girl, Maryette, looked dumbly into the fading daylight when the cart
stopped before her door. The airman took her gently by the arm, and that
awakened her. As though stiffened by fatigue she rose and climbed to the
sidewalk. He took her unresisting arm and led her through the tunnelled
wall and into the White Doe Inn.

"Get me some supper," he said. "It will take your mind off your troubles."

"Yes."

"Bread, wine, and some meat, if you have any. I'll be back in a few
moments."

He left her at the inn door and went out into the street, whistling "La
Brabanconne." A cavalryman directed him to the military telephone
installed in the house of the notary across the street.

His papers identified him; the operator gave him his connection; they
switched him to the headquarters of his air squadron, where he made his
report.

"Shot down?" came the sharp exclamation over the wire.

"Yes, sir, about eleven-thirty this morning on the north edge of Nivelle
forest."

"The machine?"

"Done for, sir. They have it."

"You?"

"A scratch--nothing. I had to run."

"What else have you to report?"

The airman made his brief report in an unemotional voice. Ending it, he
asked permission to volunteer for a special service. And for ten minutes
the officer at the other end of the wire listened to a proposition which
interested him intensely.

When the airman finished, the officer said:

"Wait till I relay this matter."

For a quarter of an hour the airman waited