“I can well believe it.  Now I see running between the hills a shining ribbon which I take to be a river.”

“That’s the Marne.  If we can, we’ll drive the Germans back across it.  Search the skies that way and see if you can find any of the Taubes.”

“I see some black specks which I take to be the German planes, but they don’t grow.”

“Which indicates that they’re not coming any nearer.  They’ve had enough of us for the present and it’s to their interest too to keep over their own army now.  What do you see beneath us?”

“A great multitude of troops, French, as I can discern the uniform, and by Jove, Lannes, I can trace far beyond the towers and spires of Paris!”

“I knew you could.  It marks how near the Germans have come to the capital, but they’ll come no nearer.  The great days of the French have returned, and we’ll surely drive them upon the Marne.”

“Suppose we fly a little lower, Lannes.  Then we can get a better view of the field as we go along.”

“I’ll do as you say, John.  I rose so high, because I thought attack here was less possible, but as no enemy is in sight we’ll drop down.”

The Arrow sank gradually, and now both could get a splendid view of a spectacle, such as no man had ever beheld until that day.  The sounds of battle were still unheard, but they clearly saw the fire of the cannon, the rapid-firers, and the rifles.  It was like a red streak running in curves and zigzags across fifty or maybe a hundred miles of country.

“We continue to cut in,” said Lannes.  “You can see how our armies off there are marching into that great open space between the Germans.  Unless the extreme German army hastens it will be separated entirely from the rest.  Oh, what a day!  What a glorious, magnificent day!  A day unlike any other in the world’s story!  Our heads in the dust in the morning and high in the air by night!”

“But we haven’t won yet?”

“No, but we are winning enough to know that we will win.”

“How many men do you think are engaged in that battle below?”

“Along all its windings two millions, maybe, or at least a million and a half anyhow.  Perhaps nobody will ever know.”

Then they relapsed into silence for a little while.  The Arrow flew fast and the motor drummed steadily in their ears.  Lannes let the aeroplane sink a little lower, and John became conscious of a new sound, akin nevertheless to the throb of the motor.  It was the concussion of the battle.  The topmost and weakest waves of air hurled off in circles by countless cannon and rifles were reaching them.  But they had been softened so much by distance that the sound was not unpleasant, and the Arrow rocked gently as if touched by a light wind.

John never ceased to watch with his glasses, and in a few minutes he announced that men in gray were below.

“I expected that,” said Lannes.  “This battle line, as you know, is far from straight, and, in order to reach our destination in the quickest time possible, we must pass over a portion of the German army, an extended corner or angle as it were.  What are they doing there, John?”