“I hope so,” said John.  He was dreaming a little then, and he saw young Julie sitting at the table with them back in Paris.  Truly, her golden hair was the purest gold he had ever seen, and there was no other blue like the blue of her blue eyes.

“Now, John,” said Lannes, “I’ll resume my place on the blankets and in ten minutes I’ll be asleep.”

He lay down, closed his eyes and three minutes short of the appointed time slept soundly.  John gazed at him for a moment in wonder and admiration.  The triumph of will over body had been complete.  He touched Lannes’ head.  It was normally cool.  Either the surgeon’s skill had been great or the very strength of his resolve had been so immense that he had kept nerves and blood too quiet for fever to rise.

John left the tent, feeling for the time a personal detachment from everything.  He had no position in this army, and no orders had been given to him by anybody.  But he knew that he was among friends, and while he stood looking about in uncertainty Captain de Rougemont appeared.

“How is young Lannes?” he asked.

“Sleeping and free from fever.  He will move with the army, or rather he will be hovering over it in his aeroplane.  I never before saw such extraordinary power of will.”

“He’s a wonderful fellow.  Of course, most of us have heard of him through his marvelous flying exploits, but it’s the first time that I’ve ever seen him.  What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.  I seem to be left high and dry for the present, at least.  My company is with one of the armies, but where that army is now is more than I can tell.”

“Nor do I know either.  We’re all in the dark here, but any young strong man can certainly get a chance to fight in this war.  I’m on the staff of General Vaugirard, a brigade commander, and he needs active young officers.  You speak good French, and the fact that you came with Lannes will be a great recommendation, I’ll provide you with a horse and all else necessary.”

John thanked him with great sincerity.  The offer was in truth most welcome.  He knew that Lannes would willingly take him in the Arrow, but he felt that he would be in the way there and, as he had said to his friend, the rolling earth rather than the air around it was his true field of action.  His first enrollment in the French army had been hurried and without due forms, but war had made it good.

“I’ll not come back for you until afternoon,” said de Rougemont, “because we’re already making preparations to advance, and I shall have much to do meanwhile.  You can watch over Lannes and see that he’s not interrupted in his sleep.  He’ll need it.”

“Yes, I have reason to know that he did not sleep at all last night, and he must be in a state of complete exhaustion.  But, just as he predicted, he’ll rise, his old self again.”

Captain de Rougemont hurried away, and John was left alone in the midst of a great army.  He stood before Lannes’ tent, which was in the midst of a grassy and rather elevated opening, and he heard once more the infinite sounds made by two hundred thousand armed men, blending into one vast, fused note.