“You’ve saved us all!”

Wharton looked rather white, but he shouted back: 

“I had no other choice.”

The French aeroplanes were around them now, their motors drumming steadily and the aviators shouting congratulations to Lannes and Caumartin, whom they knew well.  It was a friendly group, full of pride and exultation, and the Arrow and the Omnibus had a triumphant escort.  Soon they were directly over the French, and then they began their descent.  As usual, when they reached the army they made it amid cheers, and the first man who greeted John was short and young but with a face of pride.

“You have come back to us out of the air, Monsieur Scott,” he said, “and I salute you.”

It was Pierre Louis Bougainville, made a colonel already for extraordinary, almost unprecedented, valor and ability in so young a man.  John recognized his rank by his uniform, and he acknowledged it gladly.

“It’s true, I have come back, Colonel Bougainville,” he said, “and right glad I am to come.  I see that your country has had no cause to complain of you in the last week.”

“Nor of hundreds of thousands of Frenchmen,” said Bougainville.  “Your company, the Strangers, is close at hand, and here is your captain now.”

Captain Daniel Colton, thin and ascetic, walked forward.  John gave him his best salute and said: 

“Captain Colton, I beg to report to you for duty.”

A light smile passed swiftly over Cotton’s face.

“You’re a little late, Lieutenant Scott,” he said.

“I know it, sir, but I’ve brought Lieutenant Carstairs and Lieutenant Wharton with me.  There have been obstacles which prevented our speedy return.  We’ve done our best.”

“I can well believe it.  You left on horseback, and you return by air.  But I’m most heartily glad to see all three of you again.  I feared that you were dead.”

“Thank you, sir,” said John.  “But we don’t mean to die.”

“Nevertheless,” said Captain Colton, gravely, “death has been all about us for days and nights.  Many of the Strangers are gone.  You will find the living lying in the little valley just beyond us, and you can resume your duties.”

Lannes, after a word or two, left them, and Caumartin took the Omnibus to another part of the field.  Lannes’ importance was continually growing in John’s eyes, nor was it the effect of imagination.  He saw that under the new conditions of warfare the ability of the young Frenchman to carry messages between generals separated widely could not be overrated.  He might depart that very night on another flight.

“May I ask, sir,” he said to Captain Colton, “to what command or division the Strangers are now attached?”

“To that of General Vaugirard, a very able man.”

“I’m glad to hear it, sir.  I know him.  I was with him before I was taken by the Germans.”

“It seems that you’re about to have a general reunion,” said Carstairs to young Scott, as they walked away.