the motor-boat swiftly threaded its way into the seine, guided with the greatest skill, for it was a crowded waterway, and landing was made at the base of a stone staircase leading to extensive grounds, surrounding one of those old time mansions still holding its dignity against the modern building advances and commercial activity now prevailing in what was once havre de grace,[169] named from a chapel of notre dame de grace, founded in 1509.
from a large bay window of an upper room of the mansion, to which the boys were taken by order of the man with the empty sleeve, they could see great ship building yards and the tall chimneys of sugar refineries.
looking at the tapestry-hung walls, billy remarked: “this reminds me of arras.”
“sure, it does,” agreed henri. “but,” he added, “without the noise of the big guns.”
“wonder if it isn’t train time?”
jimmy evidently did not approve of all this ceremony over the short journey still before them.
“you’d think it was an affair of state,” he concluded.
“but you must remember, jimmy,” advised henri, “that paris is something of a closed town, these days. they are not advertising for visitors up there, unless they come in uniform, and of the right color. i, for one, don’t want to be searched,” feeling for the packet inside his shirt-front, and giving also a tug to the treasure belt.
“right you are,” approved billy, “and when you figure that we haven’t a passport among us. mine was soaked to a pulp when that old scow blew up and strewed the sea with us. i couldn’t this minute prove that i was from bangor.”
“we’re all members of the don’t worry club,[170] and we have always alighted on our feet,” was henri’s cheerful view. “besides, we’re traveling under sealed orders, so to speak, and it’s up to the fellow who is personally conducting this excursion.”
the last mentioned personage just then put in appearance, smiling and making apology for being so long away from his guests.
“i have some rare good news for you,” he impressively announced—“and a plan that will be much to your liking, i think”—looking at henri, and with a side glance at billy.
“the letter from my friend, whose name i shall not mention, and which monsieur the captain handed to me, i had not read until i left you, and i knew not until the reading that of the air two of you are masters. it is splendid, and it so beautifully fits. pardon the enthusiasm of a frenchman, but so superb is the idea, i must speak this way. you shall go to paris, not among the locked in of the railway carriages, not in the cabin of some little steamer—like a bird you shall go. is it not grand?”
billy had begun to believe that the speaker had stopped too often in the cafés during the visit downtown, but so convincing was the statement which followed that he felt sorry for holding such a belief:
“in this port there have just arrived three of[171] the new military a?roplanes, so much larger than the little ones that have been sent out from the forts in paris for scouting—these bigger ones give room for an observer to move and signal, and the pilot may attend alone to his duty of managing the machine.
“you understand the foreign make?”
it would evidently have been a sore disappointment to the eager proposer if the answer were contrary to his hope.
“they all look alike to us,” assured henri.
“glorious! it is but the one thing, to put together these fine birds, to fly them to paris, and when they are there, so you are there. what benefit for all. gilbert! gilbert!”
responding to the call of the excitable host, a stocky built youth with a shock of coal-black hair of such length that it mixed with his eyebrows, and who had evidently been awaiting the result of the conference upstairs, sauntered through the doorway.
“for what would you take him?”
billy thought that he would not “take him” at any price for beauty, but he politely guessed:
“artist?”
“ah! that is it—he is one artist like yourselves—he is the great scout of the air. gilbert lefane of rouen.”
[172]
“i fear it is too much honor, monsieur, that you have bestowed upon me. i but serve.”
“but what gallant service it is. permit me now, my dear gilbert, to present the youths who also fly with the best, monsieur trouville and baree, also the young men who travel with them.”
jimmy and reddy felt a couple of inches growth through the tops of their heads. billy was thinking how “baree” would sound in bangor.
gilbert spoke rapidly and to the point. he was here to receive the a?roplanes which had been specially built for his government. an expert assistant in assembling these machines was overdue, and it was a matter of emergency—of great emergency, he emphasized.
to his patriotic friend, who had so generously praised him a few minutes before, he had confided his troubles, and this meeting was arranged. would the young gentlemen volunteer for this relief service?
the young gentlemen would—and did, and in less than a day, the new machines were set to the tune of flight.
the master of the mansion was a picture of delight over the success of that which he had brought about, and even cherished a fond hope that he had permanently added to the flying corps of his beloved france.
he assured the boys that when they followed[173] gilbert in the air trip up the seine to the capital, it was insuring them a welcome beyond anything they could have expected—doubly welcome, indeed, with this and with the endorsement of the power at calais.
“i wish i knew how far his knowledge goes regarding the sealed packet that i am carrying,” thought henri.
but about this, henri discreetly resolved not to ask any questions.
as to the manner of proceeding on their a?rial journey, it was decided, of course, that gilbert should lead in one machine, henri and reddy in the second, and billy and jimmy in the third.
they followed the course of the river, as the crow flies, land crossing and cutting out the big bends, and with never a mishap, so perfectly were the machines adjusted and so expertly managed—a master hand at every wheel.
billy said to jimmy that surely joseph’s coat never had as many buttons on it as there were towns, little and big, along this line of travel.
but when he looked down on paris, on its quays and embankments, on its magnificent public squares, on its beautiful gardens, on its lofty towers, all surrounded by twenty-two miles of fortifications, billy rested on the guiding wheel in silent admiration.
the grim visage of war was pale in the distance.
