tion of fear was gone.

The blanket was sufficient protection even against the cool European
night, and he had found a soft and comfortable place on the turf. The
wood was silent, save for the rustle of a stray breeze among the leaves.
Far in the night he heard twice the faint boom of the giant cannon deep
down on the western horizon. For all he knew the sounds may have come
from a point twenty miles away.

He walked a little distance from the Arrow, and listened intently. But
after the two shots the west was silent. The earth settled back into
gloom and darkness. He returned to the _Arrow_ and found that Lannes was
still sleeping heavily, his face pale from exertion and from the painful
emotions that he had felt.

John was sorry for him, sorry from the bottom of his heart. Love of
country was almost universal, and it must be almost death to a man,
whose native land, having been trodden deep once, was about to be
trodden again by the same foe.

He went once more to the little stream and took another drink. He sat by
its banks a few minutes, and listened to its faint trickle, a pleasant
soothing sound, like the almost unheard sigh of the wind. Then he
returned to his usual place near the Arrow.

Dead stillness reigned in the grove. There was no wind and the leaves
ceased to rustle. Not another note came from the battle of the nations
beyond the western horizon. The _Arrow_ and its master both lay at peace
on the turf. The stillness, the heavy quiet oppressed John. He had been
in the woods at night many times at home, but there one heard the
croaking of frogs at the water's edge, the buzzing of insects, and now
and then the cry of night birds, but here in this degenerate forest
nothing stirred, and the air was absolutely pulseless.

Time began to lengthen. He looked at his watch, but it was not yet
midnight, and Lannes was still motionless and sleeping. He had resolved,
as most of the strain had fallen upon his comrade, to let him sleep far
beyond his allotted half, and he walked about again, but soundlessly, in
order to keep his faculties awake and keen.

The night had been dark. Many clouds were floating between him and the
moon. He looked up at them, and it seemed incredible now that beyond
them human beings could float above the thunder and lightning, and look
up at the peaceful moon and stars. Yet he had been there, not in any
wild dash of a few minutes, but in a great flight which swept over
nights and days.