PEACE IN SIGHT--CONCLUSION
IT seemed as though there was to be little sleep for either of the air
service boys on that remarkable night. Helene must be given into the
charge of some one who could look after her temporarily; and Tom
understood just whom Jack had in mind when he followed the other to the
quarter where the Y. M. C. A. shelter stood.
They managed to communicate with Bessie after a bit, and then she came
out to them. Great was her astonishment upon learning where they had
been, and that this exact counterpart of little Jeanne, whom she had
seen once when directed by Nellie to the house further back of the
lines, was her twin sister, Helene.
Of course she and her mother could manage to take the child in. Their
quarters were extremely crowded, and there was an absence of many of the
comforts of life, but those warm-hearted women and girls who worked for
the happiness of the boys in khaki would find some way to crowd a
little closer for once. Even if Bessie herself had to sit up the rest of
the night Helene should have a cot to lie upon.
"We'll see you in the morning, and tell you all about it," Jack said,
anxious not to detain the tired worker longer than necessary.
"And as I'm going over to the hospital," Tom remarked, with somewhat
studied carelessness, "I'll be only too glad to see Helene safely there.
I suppose you'll want Nellie to start her along the same road for Paris
that Jeanne took."
"We'll both go," said Jack, with the air of a general, at least. "And if
Bessie can get off for a couple of hours, she might accompany us."
When morning came the boys found it easy to get permission to take a
half-day off. They had been doing great work recently, and deserved this
small favor. Besides, the commander to whom the request was made found
himself greatly interested in the brief account Tom gave of the strange
happenings that had been the portion of the air service boys after they
discovered their petrol was exhausted, and realized the necessity for
landing in order to procure a new supply in order to get home.
There was no reprimand coming to the boys for having attempted the
rescue of Jeanne's twin sister. On the contrary the officer complimented
Sergeants Raymond and Parmly on their exceedingly clever method of
making the Boche supply them with the lacking fuel necessary to their
safe home-coming.
Great was the astonishment of Nellie when they walked in on her. She
stared at Helene for half a minute before something of the truth dawned
upon her mind; and then it was the smiling faces of the other three that
betrayed the fact.
"And so you've been at it again, have you, Jack?" she asked.
"Tom and I found a chance to drop in on Jeanne's wicked old uncle when
in desperate need of petrol," he hastened to explain. "We happened to
alight far back of the Hun lines, and discovered that we were close to
the chateau where he has his headquarters. And so, to kill two birds
with one stone, we concluded to take Helene along with us. Here she is."
"Not a very comprehensive story, it must be confessed," laughed Nellie.
But then she knew she could coax all the details from Tom at various
times in the future. So she just bent down and opened her arms.
"Come here, Helene, and love me," she told the little girl. "I've held
your sister Jeanne in my arms, and I want to hug you too, my dear."
"Go to it, Helene," urged Tom, looking as though he thought the child a
very fortunate youngster.
As Nellie had a very charming way about her, and Helene was gifted, as
many children are, with a faculty for discerning a heart filled with
true affection, they immediately became fast friends. It did Jack good
to see the child so happy, with only one cloud to cause an occasional
sigh, and that the memory of her mother's recent death.
But Jack and Tom both meant to see that the orphans were taken care of,
and their interests safeguarded. In case the war soon came to an end he
was determined that the scheming uncle, General von Berthold, should not
profit as much as a single franc in connection with those hills in
Lorraine, where the undeveloped iron deposits lay awaiting the magical
touch of modern mining methods to bring a fortune to the Anstey
children.
The air service boys and the two girls were having a very happy visit
when who should come down upon them but Harry, also off on leave for the
half-day, and naturally desirous of seeing his sister. So they had a
really delightful time of it, and the three young air pilots found it
most difficult to break away when the last minute of their leave had
expired.
It was two days later when the thrilling news sped along the whole line
that at several places the Americans were through the Argonne, with the
beaten enemy retiring sullenly to newly arranged defenses. The rejoicing
was general, for no matter how furiously the enemy might try to hold
them in check from that time on, the fighting Yankees knew they had the
Germans on the run.
More days of fighting followed, with the advance being continually and
visibly quickened. Sedan was in sight one afternoon, and beyond that lay
Belgium, with Germany almost unprotected further on quite up to the
fortresses along the Rhine.
Enthusiasm in the army was rife. The worst was over, and never again
would those gallant sons of Uncle Sam have to attempt such a frightful
task as the clearing up of the vast Argonne Forest had proved to be.
The complete destruction of that last German stronghold during the big
bombing raid, seemed to have utterly discouraged the Huns. Their morale
went lower as the days crept past; so that they no longer fought with
anything of their former ferocity.
"In fact," Jack declared, "they are badly whipped, and have just found
it out."
Never would the air service boys forget the day when the news came to
hold their present position at Sedan, because an armistice that would
undoubtedly mean the ending of the war had just been signed. It was
hard to believe that the last shot had been fired, and that now must
begin the mighty task piled on Germany's back of paying for all the
mischief caused by her invading armies during those four years and more
of fighting.
In the Yankee camps the soldiers went fairly wild over the glorious
news, and already those so far removed from home began to picture their
triumphant return, with the warm welcome that must await them.
They could not foresee at that hour what duties still awaited them when
ordered forward to occupy the bridgehead at Coblenz on the Rhine, there
to stay for weary months while the Allied Council at Versailles debated
over the peace terms that Germany would have to accept.
There on the Rhine we must take our leave of Tom Raymond and Jack
Parmly, as well as of Harry Leroy, satisfied that as they had on many an
occasion proved their valor and skill as Uncle Sam's air pilots, they
would continue to serve their country faithfully to the end, even
through another war if necessary.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors have been corrected.
Page 2, word obscurred in original: "off" presumed from final "f" and
context (off with my new)
Page 2, "overheard" changed to "overhead" (overhead, hastened to)
Page 55, "oberver" changed to "observer" (expected the observer)
Page 65, "fleet" changed to "feet" (a hundred feet)
Page 85, "solicitiously" changed to "solicitously" (he asked
solicitously)
Page 86, "riped" changed to "ripped" (have it ripped off)
Page 137, "know" changed to "known" (manner known to bombing)
Page 139, "Luxumburg" changed to "Luxembourg" (junction with Luxembourg)
Page 156, "dimished" changed to "diminished" (an undiminished force)
Page 182, "treatmont" changed to "treatment" (treatment at the hands)
Page 185, word obscurred with ink. "such" presumed and inserted into
text (just such as Jack)
Page 188, "grounded" changed to "ground" (Jack ground his teeth)
Page 209, "imposible" changed to "impossible" (next to impossible for)
This text uses tonight and to-night, halfway and half-way, chateau
and chateau.