CHAPTER VIII
EN ROUTE FOR THE FRONTIER
The distance we now had to go was very much shorter, but it was also more difficult, and we only arrived at the frontier the next morning, between ten and eleven. Had it not been for the intelligence and devotion of M. Thiébeaux and his friend M. Charles Jeannot, we should not have arrived at all.
It was a long, slow and painful journey, a regular Odyssey, across country entirely occupied by the enemy.
It is not my purpose in this short narrative to tell of its events and adventures ... that would take us too far and would only serve to revive sad memories. I only refer to it in token of gratitude to our courageous guides who carried us by night under a drenching rain through the lines of the army of occupation with no less intelligence than courage and presence of mind. It is clear that the Germans saw our balloon as well as M. Thiébeaux and his friends, and they at once set out to capture it. Fortunately for ourselves the forest and the rain prevented their following our movements and taking exact note of the place where we had come down.
At midnight we met some of M. Thiébeaux’ friends on the road, returning from a neighbouring fair. “Anything new?” asked our guide.
“Yes, a balloon has come from Paris. There were three or four persons in it, and the Uhlans are after them.”
“In which direction have they gone?”
“I believe they are pursuing them in the direction of Verdun.”