"Say, how does it feel to be a free man once more?" cried Frank jubilantly, as they sought out their regiment.
"I can't believe yet that it's anything but a dream." replied Bart with deep feeling, as he looked around at the friendly faces and familiar surroundings that he had feared for a time he would never see again.
"And look at that flag!" cried Billy as he saw Old Glory flying from one of the officers' pavilions. Like a flash their hats came off and they saluted the glorious flag that meant to them everything in life.
They passed the tanks, and Will Stone, who was "grooming his pet," looked at them for a moment as though he could not believe his eyes. Then he rushed toward them and nearly shook their hands off.
"By all that is lucky!" he cried. "I was afraid I was never going to see you fellows again. Where did you drop from?"
"From the sky," laughed Frank.
"Some little angels, you see," chuckled Billy. Then seeing Stone's puzzled look he added: "The Huns had got their hooks on us when Dick Lever came along in his plane, gave them a few little leaden missives, picked us up and landed us here, right side up with care."
Stone's eyes kindled as he heard their story, and his enthusiasm over
Lever's feat was as great as their own.
"But how did we make out in the big drive?" asked Frank. "We kept hoping all the time that you fellows would be along and nab us before the Boches did."
"We've had a big victory," explained Stone. "We put the Hindenburg line on the blink by that smash at his center, and he's had to draw in his wings on both sides. It's one of the biggest things that's been done on the western front, and the Heinies will have a hard time explaining it in Berlin."