"
General Vaugirard looked at him keenly.
"You're exhausted," he said. "You've been under tremendous pressure."
"But I can guide you. I want neither sleep nor rest."
"You need both, as I can see with these two old eyes of mine. Sleep you
can't have now, but rest is yours. You go with me in my automobile,
which this war has trained to climb mountains, jump rivers, and crash
through forests. The motor has become a wonderful weapon of battle."
"May I ask one question, General?" said John.
"A dozen."
"Do you know where the aviator, Philip Lannes, is? His sister is held a
prisoner by a German general in a chateau toward which we will march,
and doubtless he would wish to go at once to her rescue."
"He is not here, but his friend, Caumartin, is only a half-mile away.
I'll send a man at once with a message to him to find Lannes, who will
surely follow us, if he can be found. And now, my brave young Yankee,
here is my machine. Into it, and we'll lead the way."
John sprang into the automobile, and sank down upon the cushions. He had
a vast sense of ease and luxury. He had not known until then, the extent
of his mental and physical overstrain, but de Rougemont, who was also in
the machine, observed it and gave him a drink from a flask, which
revived him greatly.
Then the automobile turned into the road and moved forward at a slow
gait, puffing gently like a monster trying to hold in his breath. From
the wood and the fields came the tread of many thousand men, marching
to the night attack.
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