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Page 81
"Lannes will be back soon," said John to Carstairs and Wharton, "and
he'll tear you away from your friends here. You think, Carstairs, that
you're an Englishman, and you're convinced, Wharton, that you're an
American, but you're both wrong. You're Frenchmen, and you're going back
to the French army, where you belong. Then Captain Daniel Colton of the
Strangers will want to know from you why you haven't returned sooner."
"But how are we to go?" said Carstairs.
"And where are we to go?" said Wharton.
"I'd go in a minute," added Carstairs, "if the German army would let
me."
"So would I," said Wharton, "but the Germans fight so hard that we can't
get away."
"Lannes will attend to all those matters," said John. "I'll rest until
he comes, if I have the chance. Is that your artillery firing?"
"It's our big guns out in front," said Lord James Ivor. "Jove, but what
work they've done! A lot of our guns have been smashed, one half of our
gunners maybe have been smashed with 'em, but they've never flinched.
They covered our retreat from Belgium, and they've been the heralds of
our advance here on the Marne! Listen to 'em! How they talk!"
The heavy crash of guns far in front and the thunder of the German guns
replying came back to their ears. It was a louder note in the general
and ceaseless murmur of the battle, but the young men paid it only a
passing moment of attention. Carstairs presently added as an
afterthought:
"Unless Lannes returns soon I don't think we'll hear from him. That
blaze of the guns in front of us indicates close fighting again, and
we'll probably be ordered forward soon."
"I don't think so," said Lord James Ivor. "Our guns and the German guns
will talk together for quite a while before the infantry advance. You
can spend a good two hours with us yet, and still have time to depart
for the French army."
It was evident that Lord James Ivor knew what he was talking about,
since, as far as John could see, the khaki army lay outspread on the
turf. These men were too much exhausted and too much dulled to danger to
stir merely because the cannon were blazing. It took the sharp orders of
their officers to move them. Shells from the German guns began to fall
along the fringe of the troops, but thousands slept heavily on.
John, after disposing of the excellent rations offered to him, sat down
on the grass with Wharton, Carstairs and Lord James Ivor. The sun was
now waning, but the western sky was full of gold, and the yellow rays
slanting across the hills and fields made them vivid with light. Lord
James handed his glasses to John with the remark:
"Would you like to take a look there toward the east, Scott?"
John with the help of the glasses discerned the English batteries in
action. He saw the men working about them, the muzzles pointing upward,
and then the flash. Some of the guns were completely hidden in foliage,
and he could detect their presence only by the heavy detonations coming
from such points. Yet, like many of the English soldiers about him,
John's mind did not respond to so much battle. He looked at the flashes,
and he listened to the reports without emotion. His senses had become
dulled by it, and registered no impressions.
"We've masked our batteries as much as possible," said Lord James. "The
Germans are great fellows at hiding their big guns. They use every clump
of wood, hay stacks, stray stacks and anything else, behind which you
could put a piece of artillery. They trained harder before the war, but
we'll soon be able to match 'em."
While Lord James was talking, John turned the glasses to the south and
watched the sky. He had observed two black dots, both of which grew fast
into the shape of aeroplanes. One, he knew, was the _Arrow_. He had
learned to recognize the plane at a vast distance. It was something in
the shape or a trick of motion perhaps, almost like that of a human
being, with which he had become familiar and which he could not mistake.
The other plane, by the side of Lannes' machine, bothered him. It was
much larger than the _Arrow_, but they seemed to be on terms of perfect
friendship, each the consort of the other.
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