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Page 39
The thought was a happy one to him, and again there was a great uprising
of youth and hope. But the hosts of the air were already at work to
defeat his plan. The invisible powers which war could now use were ready
when the storm died. Far away the wireless stations sputtered and
crackled, and words carried on nothing, were passing directly over him.
They made no mention of John Scott, but he was vitally involved in what
they were planning. Down under the horizon little black dots that were
aeroplanes had begun to rise and to look cautiously over a field, where
wireless had already told them that something was done. Further away
telephone and telegraph wires were humming with words, and all the hosts
of the air were concentrating their energies upon Chastel.
John, having left the shelter of the wall, stepped into the road, where
the snow had been trodden deep by the young Germans. From that point he
could not see into Chastel, but a deep solemn note came from a far point
to the east. It was the voice of a great gun carrying an immense
distance in the night, and it struck like a hammer upon his heart. It
seemed to him a warning that the path that way, the way Auersperg had
undoubtedly gone with Julie, was barred.
He walked up the newly trodden road into Chastel, and then he darted
back again to cover. He saw the gleam of many gray uniforms and he heard
a clank which he knew could be made only by the wheels of cannon. The
new forces of the enemy were coming and evidently they were now in
great strength in Chastel and beyond it. John's heart leaped in alarm.
It was a powerful flank movement, a daring and successful attempt under
cover of the storm, and he recognized at once all his dangers.
Keeping as well under cover as he could, he turned and raced toward the
bridge. He saw the misty smoke hovering over the hospital camp, and he
did not believe that any adequate force to meet the Germans could be
found there, but alarms could be sent in every direction.
He expected that more than one shot would be sent after his flying
figure, but none came and his swift flight took him far toward the
river. Then he saw a long line of dark forms before him and the flashing
tips of bayonets. Holding his arms high above his head he shouted in
French over and over again that he was a friend, and then ran almost
directly into the arms of a short muscular man in the uniform of a
French colonel.
"Bougainville!" he cried.
"Aye, Mr. Scott, it is I! My regiment is here and many others."
"Then look out. Chastel is full of Germans."
"It is for them that we've come!"
CHAPTER VI
JOHN'S RESOLVE
John stood weakly, and with heart palpitating, but it was only for a few
moments. Strength poured back in a full tide, and he said to
Bougainville:
"You'll let me go back with you?"
"Of course, but there's heavy fighting ahead. Messages warned us in the
night that the Germans had broken through, and ever since the storm
stopped the wireless has been talking to us, giving us the exact
details. We've been marching for hours. My regiment was the first to
cross the river but, as you see, others are close behind."
"And you command them all?"
The eyes of the former Apache of Montmartre glittered.
"Yes," he replied. "It was an honor that General Vaugirard assigned to
me. I lead the vanguard."
Except the radiance from his eyes he showed no emotion. John noticed
that his features were cast in the antique mold. The pallor and thinness
of his face accentuated his powerful features, and once more John was
reminded of the portraits of the young Napoleon. Could there be such a
thing as reincarnation? But he remembered that while a new mind like
Napoleon's might be possible a new career like Napoleon's was not. Then
all thoughts of any kind upon the subject were driven from his mind by
the flash of firing that came from Chastel.
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