"Philip Lannes and his comrade, John Scott, with a message from Paris
to the commander!" he exclaimed.
He was his old self again, erect, intense, dramatic. He evidently
expected the name Philip Lannes to be known well to them, and it was, as
a cheer followed high in air.
"Now, John," said Lannes, "Be careful! Your hardest task is before you,
to land. But I've noticed that with you the harder the task the better
you do it. Make for that wide green space to the left of the stream and
come down as slowly and gently as you can. Just slide down."
John had a fleeting glimpse of thousands of faces looking upward, but he
held a true course for the grassy area, and with a multitude looking on
his nerve was never steadier. Amid great cheering the _Arrow_ came
safely to rest at her appointed place. John and Lannes stepped forth, as
an elderly man in a quiet uniform came forward to meet them.
Lannes, holding himself stiffly erect, drew a paper from his pocket and
extended it to the general.
"A letter, sir, from the commander-in-chief of all our armies," he said,
saluting proudly.
As the general took the letter, Lannes' knees bent beneath him, and he
sank down on his face.
CHAPTER III
IN THE FRENCH CAMP
John rushed forward and grasped his comrade. The sympathetic hands of
others seized him also, and they raised him to his feet, while an
officer gave him stimulant out of a flask, John meanwhile telling who
his comrade was.
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