“So near and yet so far!  A friend in the air just over our heads, and we had to let him go.  Well, he couldn’t have done us any good.”

“No, he couldn’t, and he’s gone back so fast that he’s out of sight already, but another and different inhabitant of the air is coming out of the south.  See, the shape off there, Mr. Scott.  Wait until it comes nearer, and I think I can tell you what it is.  Now it’s made out the flag and is steering for it.”

“What class of plane is it, Weber?  Can you tell that yet?”

“Yes.  It’s an Esnault-Pelterie, an invention of a young Frenchman.  It’s a monoplane with flexible, warped wings.  It’s made of steel tubes, welded together, and it has two wheels, one behind the other for contact with the ground.”

“I noticed something queer in its appearance.  It’s the wheels.  I don’t call this machine any great beauty, but it seems to cut the air well.  I suppose we’d better treat it as we did the Bleriot—­let it go as it came, none the worse and none the wiser?”

“I think so.  But we have no other choice!  That flyer is a suspicious fellow and he isn’t taking any chances.  He’s come fairly close to the flag, and now he’s sheering off at an angle.”

“I don’t blame him.  He probably has something more important to do than to unravel the meaning of a flag in a tree top.”

“Nor I either.  But whatever comes we’ll wait for Lannes, always for Lannes.  The heavens here, Mr. Scott, are peopled with strange birds, but of all the lot there is one particular bird for which we are looking.”

“Right again.  My eyes have grown a little weary of watching the skies.  For a long stare, blue isn’t as soft and easy a sight as green, and I think I’ll look at the grass and leaves for a little while.”

“Then while you rest I’ll keep an outlook and when I’m tired you can relieve me.”

“Good enough.”

John lay down in the grass and rested his body while he eased his worn eyes.  Weber commented now and then on the new birds in the heavens, aeroplanes of all kinds, but they kept their distance.

“The air over us is not held now by either French or Germans,” said Weber, “and I imagine that only the more daring make incursions into it.  Perhaps, too, they are kept busy elsewhere, because, as my ears distinctly tell me, the battle is increasing in volume.”

“I noticed the swelling fire when I lay down here,” said John.  “It seems a strange thing, but for a while I had forgotten all about the battle.”

Presently Weber took his eyes from the heavens, moved about and looked uneasy.

“If I’m not mistaken,” he said, “I caught a glimpse of steel down the river.  I think it was a lance head glittering in the sun, and Uhlans may be near.”

“How far away do you think it was.”

“A half-mile or more.  I must take a look in that direction.  I’m a good scout, Mr. Scott, and I’ll see what’s up.  Watch here will you, until I come back?  It may be some time.”