Roy Norton

“ I wonder?
“'Frederic Brownelle,' he said, 'you come from a country that does not reward men as we do with a decoration. To you the latter might be merely a bauble. I am authorized by a grateful Ministry of War to offer you a substantial reward in gold for your splendid service and your wounds, or—this!' His hand slipped up to the cross on his own breast, which he loosened and held hesitatingly in his fingers. ”

“ IN times like those it is difficult to keep track of the days and hours; but I think it was the next night that I really became acquainted with Brownelle. I had worked until the hour was late and the camp around me had long gone to rest. The rumble of cannon changing position, the movement of men making new formations, and the scurry of battle excitement had died away and a white moon made a picture of the night. On pretext of inquiring into the condition of his wound. I called my orderly into my tent and, putting myself on a basis of familiarity, motioned him to be seated. ”

“ It is a stirring sight, one that makes the heart beat hard and leads lean souls to the edge of a sight of glory. It was nearly a month later and a hundred miles away when they gave us ours. The valiant Brownelle had recovered and came a pale convalescent from the tents, with us Captains Three, all of us who were to receive the higher badge of service. ”

“ I DOUBT if anyone can appreciate the agonized intensity of that moment when we cut the anchor lines and heard the first sharp sputtering of the exhaust. On all sides men began to come toward us through the murk, idly as yet, and amazed that the dirigibles should be sent out on such a night. ”

“ Very simple men. indeed! Why, Lepard, who was really born in Alsace, had the effrontery to insist that he meet the commanding General himself, and asked the recruiting officer what his first name was.
“We were a camp joke before we had been there an hour. We committed all sorts of indiscretions, such as objecting to the tents assigned us and wandering into all sorts of forbidden places: but our ignorant curiosity took the wildest form when we visited the dirigibles, of which, to our happy surprise, we found the Germans had only two left. ”

“ Lepard would have killed him for that!”
From what I had heard of that reckless member of the Captains Three, I believed it possible.
“He calls it a bauble, the cross that brave men have paid for with their lives! Men of all nationalities—Ah! an American among them—have—”
He caught my look of inquiry and, abruptly thrusting his arm through mine, started up the street toward the Café du Priée.
“I'll tell you of that gallant soul. Strange I should never have told you before how Captain Brownelle came to be one of us.” ”

“ I tell you we've got to win!'
“We ripped the coat from his back, up there in the air. just above that white moonlit field, and as best we could bound his wounds. He flinched now and then under our hurried ministrations, and all the time I heard the good Lepard cursing the Germans and the man who had aimed that bullet. I put my own coat over his shoulders, and Lepard held him up when he began to direct Villalon how to handle the levers for a descent.
“We groped slowly downward into the fog again, certain now that we were above the armies of France. The sounds of a camp came to us ”

“ We lifted quite rapidly from the ground when the sliding planes caught the motion, as the dirigibles were balanced so precisely that, although they would lift slowly without the aid of the planes, they would speed upward when driven forward. It was this German perfection, assisted by Brownelle's knowledge, that saved us. And he did have knowledge, although it was a month before we knew that he had been an expert aëronaut in that wonderful little American army. ”

“ I think, in our eagerness, we must have raised our voices; for when Villalon exclaimed, 'If only we knew more about petrol engines!' I saw a sudden movement at the tent door. Brownelle had stepped inside and was standing at salute but entreating me with his eyes. Villalon and Lepard turned round in their seats and frowned at him inquiringly ”

“ Captain Brownelle was swaying dizzily and working on nothing but sheer nerve and resolution. I got down beside him and asked him if Villalon and Lepard could come amidships. He nodded assent. I gave him a big drink of brandy, and he revived and gave hurried explanations to Villalon how to guide the big cigar shaped bag that swung in wrinkled streaks above us.
“'If I go out,' the American said, 'keep the engines going, and if she settles elevate the planes. We've got to win! ”

“ We engaged the first sentry in conversation, and before he had answered our first question he had been silently thrown, gagged, and bound, while Villalon. after borrowing his coat and cap, took up his beat. Lepard and I dragged him into the shadows beside the machine, and the same tactics were adopted with a second and a third sentry.
“Our fourth capture was nearly disastrous; for the man started an outcry and we were compelled to strike him to the ground. Following Brownelle's plan, we Captains Three took up the sentry duty while he disappeared in the direction of the dirigibles. ”

“ There we found that another bullet he had not mentioned had caught him in the body. We three comrades, scarred and gray in the service of many fields and many hazardous enterprises. stood above the surgeons who dressed his wounds, desperately anxious for some reassuring word. They told us that he would probably live, and we went to the tent of General Merthier to report. ”