“See how the men take their caps off, will you?” said Hanky Panky reverently; “I’d feel like doing the same myself if he came near me, because it was his work that really made the passage of the ford possible. They all know it too, and just now they fairly worship that lucky chap.”
“Oh! I hope it doesn’t mean he’s dead!” exclaimed Josh with a tinge of deep regret in his voice; “that’d be too everlasting bad, you know, after he’d won his promotion, and the cross these Frenchmen prize so much.”
“No, he is still alive, because I saw him wave his hand feebly just then when he passed that group of cheering soldiers,” said Rod quickly.
“Bully for that!” exploded Josh exultantly; “somehow or other I just seem to be taking a personal interest in that brave chap, as if he might be a friend of mine, though of course I wouldn’t know him from Adam. But a thousand pair of eyes saw what he did, and the army of France knows how to honor such a hero. We must find out his name before we leave here, Rod, that’s sure.”
“I’ll not forget to ask it!” declared the other positively, “because we’ll want to write it down in our log. Whatever his name turns out to be it’s bound to go down to posterity as belonging to one of the heroes of the Battle of the Marne.”
“There,” continued Hanky Panky, “see, the general is going over himself to see the wounded man now. Why, even he takes off his military cap. It must be a proud time for the man who threw that bomb and wrecked the German battery. He not only won the ford for his side, but like as not saved the lives of scores of his comrades.”
Rod was considering his plan of campaign.
“You can see that some of the officers are gathering under that shed yonder,” he went on to explain. “I reckon they mean to hold their council of war there, because it looks like the best shelter around. I wouldn’t be surprised if the German forces had the same places for headquarters before their retreat, because I can see a table there and some camp chairs.”
“Yes, and then, too, it seems to be out of range of the batteries that were on the other side of the river; sort of protected as it were,” Josh observed, for he was quick to notice such things.
“All right,” Rod wound up by saying; “our plan is to hang around until the war council breaks up, and then try to find a chance to speak with the commander-in-chief. All we want to do is to show him who and what we are, and then ask about Andre. He may not have the time to bother with it himself, but I hope he will put us in charge of some subordinate officer who can tell us what we want to know, as well as take us to Andre, if so be the poor fellow still lives.”