"I rather think you'll be able to do more there than anywhere else, if the Germans don't drive you out. But you'll hear of that from the French officer you report to. By the way, when I spoke of the convoy that resisted a Uhlan attack, you didn't tell me you'd had anything to do with that. Why not?" "We didn't, sir," said Frank, surprised. "We got away just as the fighting began." "Yes, and sorry to go, too, I'll wager! Captain Hardy reported that it was your quickness and intelligence that saved him, and enabled him to get help up in time to save the convoy. Something about the hands of a clock you saw moving, eh?" "That was nothing, sir," said Frank. "I just happened to see that they'd moved, when a minute before the clock had seemed to have stopped." "Maybe it was nothing, but we hadn't got on to it before. And if they've been doing that at all steadily it accounts for the way they've been able to drop shells on to what we supposed were concealed positions. They shelled the house the staff was in two days ago. We're giving them a good fight, but they beat us pretty badly when it comes to spying. If we had a few more people with eyes as quick as yours, we'd be better off. Come on, I'll take you out and see you started." As they reached the street they saw General Smith-Derrien climbing into a great automobile that started off at once, moving south toward Paris. What little they had seen of him had already made them conceive a great admiration for the silent British commander, who only a few days later was to be honored as the first brilliant figure of the war on the allied side. It was for his very conduct of this retreat that Field Marshal French, the British commander-in-chief, selected him for special mention in his dispatches. They had to wait a few minutes while Major Cooper attended to the details of getting a car for them. "Oh, Frank," said Henri, wistfully, "I wish I'd been the one to go! Though I wouldn't have done so well, I'm sure of that." "Nonsense! You'd have done as well, and better," said Frank. "No! But think of what you have done for France, for what is done for the English now is done for France as well. I am glad the English are fighting with us now, instead of against us. I--" Major Cooper's return interrupted him.