"None at all. All I know is that this orderly is instructed to take us somewhere over here where we'll get our orders."
"Who was that man who talked to us?" asked Leon. "They called him 'general.'"
"That was General Petain," said Jacques. "Didn't you know him?"
"I never saw him before. Was that really he?"
General Petain was the man made famous by his splendid defense of Verdun and he was a popular hero with the soldiers.
"Who was the third man?" asked Earl.
"I don't know who he was."
The first faint streaks of dawn were just beginning to color the eastern sky as the little party stopped in front of a vine-covered cottage, just to one side of the aviation field.
"Here I leave you," announced their guide. "You are to report to Major Villier." He immediately turned on his heel and walked away.
Jacques led the way inside. The young soldiers were evidently expected for they were led without delay into the presence of an officer seated under a lamp, intently studying a map. He looked up as the three boys entered the room.