It filled John with elation,
and he saw the same spirit shining in the eyes of the young French
officers.
General Vaugirard began to puff like one of the machines. He threw out
his great chest, pursed up his mouth and emitted his breath in little
gusts between his lips, "Very good! Very good, my children!" he said,
"Oil and electricity will carry us now, and we go forward, not
backward!"
True to de Rougemont's prediction, the horses were given to orderlies,
and the staff and a great portion of the troops were taken into the
cars. General Vaugirard and several of the older officers occupied a
huge machine, and just behind him came de Rougemont, John and a
half-dozen young lieutenants and captains in another. Before them
stretched a great white road. Far overhead hovered many aeroplanes. John
had no doubt that the _Arrow_ was among them, or rather was the farthest
one forward. Lannes' eager soul, wound or no wound, would keep him in
front.
They now moved rapidly, and John's spirits continued to rise. There was
something wonderful in this swift march on wheels in the moonlight. As
far back as he could see the machines came in a stream, and to the left
and right he saw them proceeding on other roads also. All the country
was strange to John. He could not remember having seen it from the
aeroplane, and he was sure that the army, instead of going to Paris, was
bound for some point where it would come in instant contact with the
German forces.
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