Logan watched as the two-seater went down and almost reached the end of the field but managed to stop. Then he brought the Nieuport down, cutting the engine and breathing a prayer. The wheels touched at the very first clearing, and he wished for brakes as the plane bounced over the rough field. He saw the trees rushing up and thought, I’ve blown it this time! But miraculously the plane stopped, and he cried out, “Thank you, Lord!” He left the engine running, and by the time he hit the ground, he saw that Cecil was out too. He ran toward the barn, and Jo threw her arms around him and held him for a moment.
“Thank God,” she sobbed, “you’re here!”
“Where’s Lance?”
“He’s in the barn. He’s hurt.”
“How bad?”
“He just needs a few stitches on his head.”
“Come on, Cecil. We’ll have to put both of them in your plane.”
Lance had come to the door, and, although his mind was not clear, he recognized his two pilots. He tried to speak but could not for a moment, then when Logan came up, he said, “Well, I’m glad to see you.”
“Are you all right, sir?”
“My head’s banged up a bit, but I’ll be all right. How did you find us?”
“God led us here,” Logan said simply.
Lance Winslow smiled then. “I believe He did. Well, get me out of here if you can, Logan.”
Cecil and Logan helped Lance to the plane and then practically lifted him and put him in the backseat.
“You’ll have to sit with him, Jo. There’s not enough room in my plane.”
“It’s all right. I don’t mind a bit.”
Jo scrambled up and got into the seat, and the two squeezed together. “A little bit tight, Lance.”
“That’s all right,” Lance said. A peace had come over him, and he whispered, “I don’t think I’ll ever doubt God again. Not after this.”
****
Most of the pilots were back when the two planes approached the aerodrome. It was Rev who said, “It’s them! It’s the captain and Miss Jo!”
Every pilot and every mechanic on the base ran out to meet the two-seater. As soon as it stopped, Revelation Brown and Pug Hardeston pulled Lance out carefully. Jo was also lifted out by eager hands, protesting to Copper Jennings, “Copper, I’m all right. The captain is the one that’s hurt.”
“You’re going to the hospital, and I don’t want any argument about it!”
Danielle stood back for a moment, but when the two came to the edge of the field, she went to them with tears in her eyes, but they were tears of joy. “Lance, you’re all right!” She put her arms around him and he held her.
“I’m all right. Just banged up a little.”
Revelation Brown had watched them and had seen the expression that came across Logan’s face. Logan had come up just in time to see Danielle put her arms around the captain, and now Rev saw something change in his face. The smile that had been there disappeared instantly.
Rev saw Logan suddenly turn and walk away. Two of the pilots tried to talk to him, but he answered them in short replies.
Something’s wrong with that boy, Rev thought. He made his way to Logan and fell into step. “Well, you found them, I see.”
“Yes.”
“What’s wrong with you? You ought to be happy.”
“I’m glad they’re all right,” Logan said curtly.
“You ought to go say something to Miss Dani. She’s been worried sick about you.”
Actually that had been in Logan’s mind, but when he had seen her throw her arms around Lance Winslow, all of his old feelings came back. He had thought, She’s still in love with him, no matter what she said to me.
“What’s wrong with you, Logan? Go to Miss Dani. She’s worried about you.”
“I guess she was worried about Lance Winslow. He’s the one she cares about.”
Suddenly Rev seized Logan’s arm with a strong hand and turned him around almost as if he were a child. The strength of Rev Brown was well known, and Logan could not shake it off.
“Let go of me, Rev!” he said angrily.
“You’re actin’ like a fool!”
“I said let go of me!”
Rev shook his head slowly. “That girl cares for you, Logan.”
“No, she doesn’t! She’d care for anybody that was in trouble. It’s the captain she’s in love with!”
Rev Brown saw the futility of arguing. He released his grip and then shook his head, sadness sweeping across his face. “For a smart fellow, Logan Smith,” he said evenly, “you ain’t got much sense!” He turned abruptly and walked away.
Logan stood there, confused. He almost called out to Rev, then his pride rose, and he said, “I saw how she went to him! She still loves him. I can see that much even if I’m not smart.” His shoulders slumped as he walked quickly away. He had no desire to be a part of the celebration that was taking place at the edge of the airfield, where Lance and Jo were surrounded by the happy, excited pilots and mechanics. A darkness had come to his heart, and he thought, At least I can kill Germans. He did not realize how close this was to the same bitter spirit that had been in Lance Winslow. The sight of Danielle throwing her arms around Lance had taken all the spirit out of him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
A Different Logan
“And this is Elaine—and this is Helen—and this is Marlene.”
Lance sat on the floor cross-legged across from Gabby. The two of them were practically buried in dolls, and Lance was trying desperately to keep them separated.
“So this is Elaine?” he asked, holding up one doll with blond hair and shiny blue eyes.
“No, Papa, that’s Helen. Don’t you know anything?”
“I guess not, sweetheart. Okay, this is Elaine.”
“No, no, Papa. That’s not Elaine. Elaine has red hair. This is Elaine.”
“Oh, I see. Of course. Why can’t I remember that?”
Standing in the doorway, Katherine Laurent was watching with a fond look in her eyes. Ever since Lance had been wounded, he had lived with them, and both she and Pierre had been astonished at the change that had taken place in their son-in-law.
This is the Lance I remember before Noelle died, Katherine thought. There’s a gentleness in him now, and the love for Gabby just flows out of him.
Looking up from the floor, Lance grinned at his mother-in-law. “Why is it I can remember the names of a hundred different pilots, but I can’t remember the names of half a dozen dolls?”
“You’ve had more practice remembering the names of pilots. How do you feel today?”
“Like a million,” Lance grinned cheerfully. “Of course, I’ve got a good nurse here.” He reached over suddenly, picked Gabby up, and squeezed her until she squealed. He kissed her on the cheek and said, “Why don’t you and I go out and fly your kite for a while this afternoon?”
“Oh, Papa, that would be so much fun!”
“And after that we’ll go buy you a new dress or something.”
“Papa, you don’t know how to buy dresses,” Gabby said reproachfully. “We’ll have to get Miss Jo to go with us.”
“I guess we will. What do you want to do now?”
Gabby did not have to think about that. “Let’s have a tea party.”
“You always like tea parties. All right, I think that would be fine.”
“Lunch will be ready in an hour, so you’ll have to finish your tea party by then,” Katherine said.
Gabby became very busy then. Lance had bought her a table with four chairs just her size. The chairs were too fragile for him, and he had to sit on the floor. Gabby occupied one, but the others were filled with dolls.
“You know your mother had tea parties when she was a little girl.”
“Did she really, Papa?”
“Don’t you remember her telling you about it?”
Gabby’s face grew very serious. “I think I do. It’s hard for me to remember sometimes. Tell me more about her, Papa.”<
br />
Lance had discovered that he could never tell Gabby enough about Noelle. The child’s mind seemed to be a sponge, and he realized how important it was for her to have all the knowledge she could of her mother. He had talked with her for hours about the things that he and Noelle and Gabby had done as a family. The fond memories had stirred him and brought about a healing to his soul. He discovered also that this seemed to give Gabby a great deal of peace.
Lance was in the middle of a story, relating how he had taken Gabby and her mother to the zoo, when Danielle came in. “Oh, Mother says lunch is almost ready,” she smiled. “But I missed the party.”
“Here, you can play for a while, Aunt Dani,” Gabby said quickly.
Danielle awkwardly sat down cross-legged next to Gabby and smiled at Lance. “This is easier than flying airplanes, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know, Dani,” Lance smiled. “I’m enjoying it more. As a matter of fact, I’m enjoying everything more.”
“Something happened to you, besides being hurt, I mean, didn’t it?”
“Yes, it did.” Lance spoke briefly, telling how when he had been so badly wounded and he and Jo were alone in the barn expecting capture or death, he had prayed. “And Jo prayed with me,” he said. “It was like a load rolled off my back. You remember in Pilgrim’s Progress?”
“I remember that,” Danielle said. “Mama used to read it to me. A pilgrim was going along with a huge load of sin. When he saw the cross, it rolled off his back and fell into an empty tomb. She read it to me over and over again. It was my favorite story and hers, too.”
Danielle watched as Lance and Gabby continued to play and thought, I’ve never seen such a change in a man, and it’s done wonders for Gabby.
Afterward, Katherine came to the door, saying, “Come along, Gabby. You’ve got to wash before lunch.” She laughed and said, “I suppose you two can wash yourselves.”
“I think we can handle that, Katherine,” Lance grinned. He got up to his feet and, groaning, said, “I’m stiff. I think about how easy it was to do this when I was eighteen.”
“I can remember how easy when I was six, I think. We stiffen up as we get older.” Danielle took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet. Her eyes went to his forehead, and she reached up and touched the scar. “It’s healing well. It’ll always be there, though.”
“I don’t mind.”
“It’ll always be a mark of the time you found how to trust God.”
“Yes.” Lance touched the scar and then said abruptly, “God’s given me a second chance, Dani. That’s something not many people get.”
“I’m so glad.” Danielle’s eyes glowed, and then she looked troubled. “But I’m worried about Logan.”
At the mention of Logan, Lance sobered. “I am too. He hasn’t been the same. He’s behaving almost like Sailor Malone, acting as if he doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. He’s shot down twenty-two planes now, and his name’s in all the newspapers. He’s become almost an idol, but he’s so unhappy.”
Danielle looked troubled. She bit her lower lip and said, “Lance, I’ve always meant to tell you that when I was a girl I behaved very foolishly.”
“What young person doesn’t? I know I made a fool out of myself regularly. Once a month at least.”
“No. I’m serious, Lance.” Taking a deep breath, Danielle said, “I had a tremendous crush on you. I think that’s what the Americans call it.”
Lance looked embarrassed. “Well, I don’t think that’s too unusual. I was pretty infatuated with a twenty-two-year-old woman when I was only sixteen. It went away, though.”
Danielle shook her head. “But it got worse than that. I think God tried to tell me it was wrong. I know my parents did, but it’s taken me a long time to get over it. There were times when I almost hated Noelle for having you when I didn’t.” She said quickly, “Of course, that didn’t last long, but I was a very unhappy woman.”
Lance suddenly blinked with surprise. “Don’t tell me this has something to do with why you turned down two or three suitors over the years!”
“I don’t know, Lance. Maybe it does, maybe not. I’ve never found anyone I really cared for. And now looking back, I see how foolish I was, and it makes me ashamed.”
Lance reached out and put his hands on Danielle’s shoulders. “Don’t do that, Danielle. You’re a sweet, precious girl. You always have been. And God has something fine in store for you.”
Danielle looked up and said, “I was beginning to care for Logan, but he’s turned away from me. I don’t know what I’ve done.”
“I’ll have a talk with him.”
“No. Don’t do that. It wouldn’t help.”
Lance felt helpless. “Well, God has brought me out of my foolishness, and He’s given me a new lease on life.”
“Do you care for Jo, Lance?”
“You’re pretty quick, aren’t you?” Lance said with an admiring glance. “Yes, I do. It may still be too soon for me, but I do care for Jo in a very special way.”
“Lance, don’t let your love for Noelle spoil the rest of your life.”
“What do you mean, Dani?”
“I mean you had such great love for Noelle, and she for you, but suppose it were the other way around,” Danielle said. “Suppose you had been the one who died. What would you want for Noelle?”
“Why, I’d want her to have a happy life the best she could.”
“And does it disturb you to think that she might have found love with another man?”
“Not a bit!” Lance protested. The thought had never occurred to him, and he grew solemn for a moment. “She had such love to give. And if I had died and she had found a man that would be good to her and would give her comfort and happiness, why, nothing could have pleased me more.”
“And don’t you think that that’s the way she might feel about you?”
Lance stood there silently. He had never thought in these terms, but since he had come back to God and had seen his responsibility to Gabby, he had begun to think about the future. He had thought about his feelings for Jo Hellinger, and now as he stood there, suddenly he realized that what Danielle was saying had the ring of truth. “I believe you’re right.” Another thought came to him. “Do you think Gabby would be able to accept Jo? As a mother, I mean.”
“I think she would be the happiest girl in the world,” Danielle said quickly.
“She needs a mother. She’s young enough now that Jo could fill that role, and she loves Gabby dearly. I know she does. She’s said so many times.”
“Are you two going to come and eat or stand there talking all day?” Katherine had come to the door and said impatiently, “Come along. The food’s going to get cold.”
“Don’t say anything to Logan about the way I feel, Lance,” Danielle whispered.
“I won’t, but I think you should.”
“I’m just not sure what to do yet. I need a little more time.”
Lance smiled at Danielle, “Just don’t wait too long.”
****
“I say, old boy, you scared the pants off me going after those two Germans!” Cecil Lewis had sat down across from Logan and sipped at the tea he had brought with him in a large white mug. “Please don’t do that again. After all, you’re our Ace around here, and the Twenty-fourth wouldn’t get in the papers so often if you bought it.”
Logan had been reading a book listlessly. He looked up and stared into Lewis’s face. The ex-professor seemed to have a special concern for him, he had noticed. Now, taking in the tall, lanky figure of the man, he said, “That’s what we get paid for. Taking chances.”
“But I say, Cowboy, it’s not right the way you throw yourself into the most dangerous situations! I mean, after all, it’s your duty to live. The captain said it’s not your duty to die for your country but to make the Jerries die for theirs.”
The two were alone, for it was a Sunday afternoon, and the rest of the squadron had gone into Paris for a weekend leave. They sat there
sipping their tea, and finally Cecil said, “Have you noticed how different Captain Winslow is lately?”
“Yes. He’s not the same man, is he?”
“I guess going down and nearly getting killed made a change in him. Does it make you happy that he’s adopted your method of spreading our formations out?”
“It’s the right thing to do, Cecil. Gives us more of a chance that way.”
Cecil Lewis stared across the table at his friend. Lewis was an astute man with an analytical mind, and he had spent long hours puzzling over the change that had come over the pilot the papers called Cowboy. Up until the point when the captain had been shot down, Logan Smith had been a cheerful, happy-go-lucky young man, the best flier in the squadron, and a good companion. Something had happened, however, that changed him. He was withdrawn, seldom smiled, and flew every mission he could with a determination to shoot down as many of the Huns as possible.
Logan suddenly looked up and said, “Are you afraid to die, Cecil?”
“Well, it’s not something I’m looking forward to.”
“That’s no answer. Tell me the truth.”
“I was at first,” Cecil said carefully. “By George, I could hardly get into my airplane. I was shaking so hard just thinking about getting bullets in the brain or burning up. But I had to get over that. You can’t fight if you’re shaking like a leaf.”
“How did you get over it?”
“Well, two things. First there were a few lines from Shakespeare . . .”
Logan grinned. “I thought there might be. You have to quote Shakespeare before you brush your teeth. What were they?”
“They’re very fine lines. They didn’t mean much to me until I got into this line of work. You don’t face death as a university don—unless some student you fail comes after you with a pistol. But anyway, the lines go like this:
‘Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
The Flying Cavalier Page 32
