ld not look down again. Despite the value of the deed, he
shuddered and he was glad when the _Arrow_ in its swift flight had left
the area of devastation far behind.

"We're flying over the French now," he said. "So I expected," said
Lannes. "Can you see a hill crested with a low farm house?"

"Yes," replied John, after looking a little while. "It's straight ahead.
The house is partly hidden by trees."

"Then that's the place. You wouldn't think we'd come nearly fifty miles,
would you, John?"

"Fifty miles! It feels more like a thousand!"

Lannes laughed, this time with satisfaction, not excitement.

"You'll find there the general to whom we reported first," he said, "and
he'll be glad to see us! I can't tell you how glad he will be. His joy
will be far beyond our personal deserts. It will have little to do with
the fact that you, John Scott, and I, Philip Lannes, have come back to
him."

The circling _Arrow_ came down in a meadow just behind the house, and
officers rushed forward to meet it. Lannes and John, stepping out, left
it in charge of two of the younger men. Then, proudly waving the others
aside, they walked to the low stone farmhouse, in front of which the
elderly, spectacled general was standing. He looked at Lannes
inquiringly, but the young Frenchman, without a word, handed him a note.

John watched the general read, and he saw the transformation of the
man's face. Doubting, anxious, worn, it was illumined suddenly. In a
voice that trembled he said to the senior officers who clustered about
him:

"We're advancing in the center, and on the other flank. Already we've
driven a huge wedge between the German armies, and Paris, nay, France
herself, is saved!"

The officers, mostly old men, did not cheer, but John had never before
witnessed such relief expressed on human faces. It seemed to him that
they had choked up, and could not speak. The commander held the note in
a shaking hand and presently he turned to Lannes.

"Your fortune has been great. It's not often that one has a chance to
bear such a message as this."

"My pride is so high I can't describe it," said Lannes in a dramatic but
sincere tone.

"Go in the house and an orderly will give food and wine to you and your
comrade. In a half hour, perhaps, I may have another message for you."

Both John and Lannes needed rest and food, and they obeyed gladly. The
strain upon the two was far greater than they had realized at the time,
and for a