Lannes laughed.  It was evident that he was in a most excellent humor.

“All right, have your fun,” said John, showing his own teeth in a smile.  “If our flag didn’t frighten away the German army it at least achieved what we wanted, that is, it brought you.  The whole episode would be perfect if it were not for the fact that we lost sight of Weber.”

“I tell you again not to worry about him.  That man has shown uncommon ability to take care of himself.”

“All right.  I’ll let him go for the present.  Hello, here we are crossing the Marne again, and without getting our feet wet.”

“We’re a good half mile above it, but we’ll cross it once more soon.  I’m following the shortest road to the British army and that takes us over a loop of the river.”

“Yes, here we are recrossing, and now we’re coming to a region of chequered fields, green and brown and yellow.  I always like these varied colors of the French country.  It’s a beautiful land down there, Philip.”

“So it is, but see if it isn’t defaced by sixty or seventy thousand sunburnt men in khaki, the khaki often stained with blood.  The men, too, should be tired to death, but you can’t tell that from this height.”

“The British army you mean?  Yes, by all that’s glorious, I see them, or at least a part of them!  I see thousands of men lying down in the fields as if they were dead.”

“They’re not dead, though.  They just drop in their tracks and sleep in any position.”

“I saw the Germans doing that, too.  I suppose we’ll land soon, Philip, won’t we?  They’ve sighted us and a plane is coming forward to meet us.”

“We’ll make for the meadow over there just beyond the little stream.  I think I can discern the general’s marquee, and I must deliver my message as soon as possible.  Wave to that fellow that we’re friends.”

An English aeroplane was now very near them and John, leaning over, made gestures of amity.  Although the aviator’s head was almost completely enshrouded in a hood, he discerned a typically British face.

“Kings of the air, with dispatches for your general!” John cried.  He knew that the man would not hear him, but he was so exultant that he wanted to say something, to shout to him, or in the slang of his own land, to let off steam.

But while the English aviator could not understand the words the gestures were clear to him, and he waved a hand in friendly fashion.  Then, wheeling in a fine circle, he came back by their side as an escort.

The Arrow, like a bird, folding its wings, sank gracefully into the meadow, and Lannes, hastily jumping out, asked John to look after the aeroplane.  Then he rushed toward a group of officers, among whom he recognized the chief of the army.

John himself disembarked stiffly, and stretched his limbs, while several young Englishmen looked at him curiously.  He had learned long since how to deal with Englishmen, that is to take no notice of them until they made their presence known, and then to acquiesce slowly and reluctantly in their existence.  So, he took short steps back and forth on the grass, flexing and tensing his muscles, as abstractedly as if he were alone on a desert island.