“I went out last night while you slept,” said Lannes, when they were nearly at the hangar, “and I will tell you that I bear a message to one of our most important generals.  I carry it in writing, and also in memory in case I lose the written word.  That is all I feel at liberty to tell you, and in truth I know but little more.  The message comes from our leader to the commander of the army at Paris, who in turn orders me to deliver it to the general whom we’re going to seek.  It directs him with his whole force to move forward to a certain point and hold fast there.  Beyond that I know nothing.  Its whole significance is hidden from me.  I feel that I can tell you this, John, as we’re about to start upon a journey which has a far better prospect of death than of life.”

“I’m not afraid,” said John, and he told the truth.  “I feel, Philip, that great events are impending and that your dispatch or the effect of it will be a part in some gigantic plan.”

“I feel that way, too.  What an awful crisis!  The Germans moved nearer in the dark.  I didn’t sleep a minute last night.  I couldn’t.  If the signs that you and I saw are to be fulfilled they must be fulfilled soon, because when a thing is done it’s done, and when Paris falls it falls.”

“Well, here we are at the hangar, and the Arrow will make you feel better.  You’re like the born horseman whose spirits return when he’s on the back of his best runner.”

“I suppose I am.  The air is now my proper medium, and anyway, John, my gallant Yankee, for a man like me the best tonic is always action, action, and once more action.”

The Arrow was in beautiful condition, smooth, polished and fitted with everything that was needed.  They put on their flying clothes, drew down their visors, stowed their automatics in handy pockets, and took their seats in the aeroplane.  Then, as he put his hand on the steering rudder and the attendants gave the Arrow a mighty shove, the soul of Lannes swelled within him.

They rose slowly and then swiftly over Paris, and his troubles were left behind him on the earth.  Up, up they went, in a series of graceful spirals, and although John, at first, felt the old uneasy feeling, it soon departed.  He too exulted in their mounting flight and the rush of cold air.

“Use your glasses, John,” said Lannes, “and tell me what you can see.”

“Some captive balloons, five other planes, all our own, and on the horizon, where the German army lies, several black specks too vague and indefinite for me to make out what they are, although I’ve no doubt they’re German flyers.”

“I’d like to have a look at the Germans, but our way leads elsewhere.  What else do you see, John?”

“I look downward and I see the most magnificent and glittering city in the world.”

“And that’s Paris, our glorious Paris, which you and I and a million others are going to save.  I suppose it’s hope, John, that makes me feel we’ll do something.  Did you know that the Germans dropped two more bombs on the city last night?  One, luckily, fell in the Seine.  The other struck near the Madeleine, close to a group of soldiers, killing two and wounding four more.”