“Bless you, my children, bless you,” said Frank mockingly. “Run along now and don’t keep the girls waiting. But all the same, fellows,” he added more seriously, “don’t get in too deep until you know that they’re loyal to the old U. S. A.”
“I’d stake my life on it,” replied Billy warmly.
“No doubt,” laughed Frank, “but just now, old man, you may not be a very good judge. Only be careful, that’s all.”
Two days later there was a grand review of the Army of Occupation. General Pershing himself had come to Coblenz for that purpose and the marching and countermarching of that great array of troops on a plain outside the city was a magnificent spectacle.
But the great feature of the day to the Army Boys was when they and a number of others were called out in front of the entire division and decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross. Frank got his for “extraordinary heroism,” as the citation called it, in capturing the machine gun and its crew single-handed. Tom and Billy were honored for their exploit in the tunnel affair while Bart was decorated for the occasion when in company with Frank he had rowed out into the river and blown up the bridge over which the Germans were charging. The General himself pinned on the medals, and it was a proud group of Army Boys who trudged back to their quarters with the honors on their breasts after the review was ended.
They had done these things without the slightest thought of reward and simply because they loved their country. But it was good all the same to feel that Uncle Sam was not ungrateful.
Before they left the field, Frank had another pleasure. Colonel Pavet came over to him and congratulated him on his honors which, he declared, had never been better deserved.
“And at last I have the news that I have been hoping for for weeks,” he said. “I heard from Andre this morning that your mother’s property has at last been awarded to her. The last formality is settled, and if she were here she could take possession tomorrow.”
Frank wrung the colonel’s hand and thanked him with all his heart.
“I shall write my mother tonight,” he said. “I’ll do better than that! I’ll cable. She will be relieved and delighted beyond measure.”