afraid to leave the _Arrow_ here alone. Leave the glasses
with me though."

John, after regaining his land legs, walked away among the woods, which
evidently had been tended with care like a park, bearing little
resemblance, as he somewhat scornfully reminded himself to the mighty
forests of his own country. Still, these Europeans, he reflected were
doing the best they could.

The region was hilly and he soon lost sight of Lannes, but he threshed
up the wood, thoroughly. There was no sign of occupancy. He did not know
whether it lay in Germany or France, but it was evident that all the
foresters were gone. A clear brook ran through a corner of it, and he
knelt and drank. Then he went back to Lannes who was sitting placidly
beside the Arrow.

"Nothing doing," said John in the terse phrase of his own country. "At
imminent risk from the huge wild animals that inhabit it I've searched
all this vast forest of yours. I've forded a river three feet wide, and
six inches deep, I've climbed steep mountains, twenty feet high, I've
gone to the uttermost rim of the forest, a full half-mile away on every
side, and I beg to report to you, General, that the wilderness contains
no human being, not a sign of any save ourselves. Strain my eyes as I
would I could not find man anywhere."

Lannes smiled.

"You've done well as far as you've gone," he said.

"I could go no farther."

"You said you saw no sign of man."

"None whatever."

"But I do."

"Impossible!"

"Not impossible at all. Why don't you look up?"

John instantly gazed into the heavens, and he was startled at the sight
he beheld. The population of the air had increased suddenly and to a
wonderful extent. A score of aeroplanes were outlined clearly against
the sky, and as he looked the distant drumming noise that he had heard
in Dresden came again to his ears. A monstrous black figure cut across
his vision and soon sailed directly overhead.

"A Zeppelin!" he said.

"A huge fellow," said Lannes. "The aeroplanes are German too, or there
would soon be trouble between them and the Zeppelin."

"Should we take to flight?"

"No, it's too late. Besides, I think we're safe here. The foliage is so
dense that they're not likely to see us. This forest must lie in
Germany, and I judge that the heads of their armies have already passed
to the west of us. The planes may be scouting to see whether French
cavalry is in their rear. Do you hear that? I say, John, do you hear