"
"Right you are, and I've two particular friends in that company--I
suppose they've rejoined it--Wharton, an American, and Carstairs, an
Englishman. We went through a lot of dangers together before we reached
the British army near Mons, and I'd like to see them again."
"Maybe you will, but here comes an extraordinary procession."
They heard many puffing sounds, uniting in one grand puffing chorus, and
saw advancing down a white road toward them a long, ghostly train, as if
a vast troop of extinct monsters had returned to earth and were marching
this way. But John knew very well that it was a train of automobiles and
raising the glasses that he now always carried he saw that they were
empty except for the chauffeurs.
General Vaugirard began to whistle his mellowest and most musical tune,
stopping only at times to mutter a few words under his breath. John
surmised that he was expressing deep satisfaction, and that he had been
waiting for the motor train. War was now fought under new conditions.
The Germans had thousands and scores of thousands of motors, and perhaps
the French were provided almost as well.
"I fancy," said de Rougemont, who was also watching the arrival of the
machines, "that we'll leave our horses now and travel by motor."
De Rougemont's supposition was correct. The line of automobiles began to
mass in front, many rows deep, and all the chauffeurs, their great
goggles shining through the darkness, were bent over their wheels ready
to be off at once with their armed freight.
Pages:
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80