There was an instant stampede to the spot, the Generalissimo himself following, unable to curb his curiosity; but as he reached the bank at the edge of the cornfield a running figure in leather jacket and flying helmet checked his pace and, throwing up his goggles, saluted smartly. "Mon General, I hope you will accept my apology," said Dennis Dashwood. "I am five minutes behind my time, but I am here, and I have a good deal to tell you!" CHAPTER XIV The Sing-Song in the Dug-out Three surgeons, hastily summoned to the spot, knelt with their instruments beside Claude Laval, not twenty yards from the bodies of the two German airmen whom he had brought down the afternoon before, and in the circle that surrounded them stood the Generalissimo, holding the old French colour which would never ornament the walls of that distant hunting-lodge again. "He will recover," said one of the doctors, getting up from his knee. "But he will want the most careful attention. The whole thing is marvellous. There is not one man in a thousand that could have lived through such an adventure!" The _pilote aviateur_ opened his eyes, for he had heard the surgeon's words. "Mon General," he said, but so faintly that the Commander of the French Armies had to stoop over him, "I should not have lived if it had not been for my companion. He is brave, that boy--oh, braver than I can make you understand. But, mon General," and a wistful look came into the deep-sunk eyes, "they have taken my Cross of the Legion and destroyed it!" "You were a chevalier of the Order, mon lieutenant, if I remember," said the Generalissimo. "The Republic does not forget her sons when they behave as you have behaved. You shall have another Cross, and this time it will be the Cross of an Officer of the Legion of Honour. And listen! The English lieutenant shall have one too, if the word of Cesar Joffre carries any weight in France. Messieurs, let us salute these two brave men who have both deserved so well of the Republic!" And, lifting his kepi, the gallant Frenchman kissed Dennis on both cheeks amid a burst of generous applause that came from the hearts of all of them. "_Cher ami_," whispered Claude Laval, "if you see my brother, you will tell him of our little escapade, hein?" Dennis pressed Laval's left hand in both his own as he left him with a happy smile on his face; and with a last look at the Aviatik, followed General Joffre to his automobile. "Adieu, lieutenant!" said the great soldier, with a lingering grip after an interview that lasted half an hour, "I have no other message for your General. He will find it all written in that envelope, which you will give him." "Now, Martique," said Dennis, settling himself beside him in the motor, "I am in your hands." And almost before the car had started, Second Lieutenant Dennis Dashwood, of the 2/12 Battalion, Royal Reedshire Regiment, was sound asleep! * * * * *