I nodded.
"Bon voyage, monsieur," cried Madame in a shrill voice.
"Bon voyage," echoed Jeanne.
I waved my hand, and the next moment I had seen the last of two noble women who had never looked upon me except with kindness, and who, from my rising up till my lying down, had ministered to me with unfailing solicitude.
At the Base I boarded the leave-boat. Several officers were already on board, their boots still bearing the mud of Flanders upon them. It was squally weather, and as we headed for the open sea I saw a dark object gambolling upon the waves with the fluency of a porpoise. A sailor stopped near me and passed the time of day.
"Had any trouble with German submarines?" I asked.
"Only once, sir. A torpedo missed us by 'bout a hund-erd yards."
"Only once! How's that?"
For answer the sailor removed a quid of tobacco from one cheek to the other by a surprisingly alert act of stowage and nodded in the direction of the dark object whose outlines were now plain and salient. It was riding the sea like a cork.