"And as I'm going over to the hospital," Tom remarked, with somewhat studied carelessness, "I'll be only too glad to see Helene safely there. I suppose you'll want Nellie to start her along the same road for Paris that Jeanne took."
"We'll both go," said Jack, with the air of a general, at least. "And if Bessie can get off for a couple of hours, she might accompany us."
When morning came the boys found it easy to get permission to take a half-day off. They had been doing great work recently, and deserved this small favor. Besides, the commander to whom the request was made found himself greatly interested in the brief account Tom gave of the strange happenings that had been the portion of the air service boys after they discovered their petrol was exhausted, and realized the necessity for landing in order to procure a new supply in order to get home.
There was no reprimand coming to the boys for having attempted the rescue of Jeanne's twin sister. On the contrary the officer complimented Sergeants Raymond and Parmly on their exceedingly clever method of making the Boche supply them with the lacking fuel necessary to their safe home-coming.
Great was the astonishment of Nellie when they walked in on her. She stared at Helene for half a minute before something of the truth dawned upon her mind; and then it was the smiling faces of the other three that betrayed the fact.
"And so you've been at it again, have you, Jack?" she asked.
"Tom and I found a chance to drop in on Jeanne's wicked old uncle when in desperate need of petrol," he hastened to explain. "We happened to alight far back of the Hun lines, and discovered that we were close to the chateau where he has his headquarters. And so, to kill two birds with one stone, we concluded to take Helene along with us. Here she is."
"Not a very comprehensive story, it must be confessed," laughed Nellie. But then she knew she could coax all the details from Tom at various times in the future. So she just bent down and opened her arms.
"Come here, Helene, and love me," she told the little girl. "I've held your sister Jeanne in my arms, and I want to hug you too, my dear."
"Go to it, Helene," urged Tom, looking as though he thought the child a very fortunate youngster.