Rodd considered it unnecessary to waste words on so stupid a question. He merely offered his hand, when the Major released it, to McGee and Larkin, who were pounding him on the back in great glee. "We thought you were dead," Cowan said. "So did I--until I woke up," Rodd answered. Cowan, noting the pallor of his face, pressed him into a chair. "Tell us about it," he urged. "Were you badly hurt? What happened? Didn't you crack up--" Rodd lifted his good hand in protest. "One question at a time, Major. That German found my motor and it conked. I regained control just in time to level off, but not in time to miss a tree. After that I don't know what happened. Came to, flat on my back, fifty feet away from my plane. It was burning. That's all there is to it." "All there is to it!" Cowan snorted. "You're not sending a telegram. Words won't cost you anything. Where have you been since then?" "Hospital. Waiting for a chance to skip out." "You mean--you ran away from the hospital?" Rodd nodded. "You are crazy, man! Why did you leave?" "I don't like hospitals." "But you are hurt! Is your head badly injured?" "Cut." "And your hand?" "Cut." Cowan could not escape laughing. McGee and Larkin joined in. "I'm not laughing at your injury, Lieutenant," Cowan explained, "but at your way of telling it. If that should happen to Yancey he'd write a book about it. Of course, I'm delighted to see you alive. I had the good fortune to wipe out the one that shot you down. He went down spinning." "See him crash?" Rodd asked. "No. Things were pretty thick. I didn't have time to watch." "Didn't kill him," Rodd announced. "What!" "He made a better landing than I did. He was trying to bring me to when some Frenchies came running up and nabbed him. Decent fellow. The Frenchies treated him pretty rough. Put the screws to him, I guess." "See here," Cowan leaned forward in his chair, "either tell all this story, or back you go to the hospital. You say the French questioned him?" "French Intelligence did. Pretty game fellow, they said." "But he talked?" "Had to. That was von Herzmann's Circus." "We know that. Anything else?" "Yes. He said they knew all about our plans, and were out gunning for us." Cowan's face colored, but with confusion more than anger. "Anything else?" he asked crisply. "Well--the Frogs found out something else, but," he cast a quick, furtive glance at McGee and Larkin, "but I guess I've talked enough. Someone is talking too much, that's certain." Cowan had seen the glance, and the inference irritated him. "These officers have proved their loyalty by service, Lieutenant." "Yes, sir," was Rodd's meatless reply. McGee felt genuinely hurt, but at the same time he recognized the fact that Rodd's statement was all too true. "Rodd is quite right, Major," he said, and arose from his chair. "If he has any real information, it belongs to you alone--or to G 2. If you've nothing further, Larkin and I will be going."