ich dying men see, as in a vision, the
whole past and the whole future, if Guynemer knew a comfort it was the
certainty that his comrades would successfully complete what he had
begun.

"You, his friends and rivals, I know well; I know that, like Guynemer,
you can be trusted, that you meet bravely the formidable task he has
bequeathed to you, and that you will fulfil the hopes which France had
reposed in him.

"It is to confirm this certitude in presence of our flags, brought to
witness it, that I am glad to confer on two of his companions, two of
our bravest fighters, distinctions which are at the same time a reward
for the past and an earnest of future glory."

Then the general gave the accolade and embraced Heurtaux, now less
dependent on his crutches, and Fonck, suddenly grown taller, children of
glory, both of them, and still pale from the emotion caused by the
evocation of their friend's glory. He pinned the badges on their coats.
After this he added, in a lull of the conflicting elements:

"Let us raise our hearts in respectful and grateful admiration for the
hero whom the First Army can never forget, of whom it was so proud, and
whose memory will always live in History.

"Dead though he be, a man like Guynemer guides us, if we know how to
follow him, along the triumphal way which, over ruins, tombs, and
sacrifices, leads to victory the good and the strong."

Of itself, thanks to this religious conclusion of the general's ode, the
ceremony had assumed a sort of sacred character, and the word which
concludes prayers, the Amen of the officiating priest, naturally came to
our lips while the general saluted with his sword the invisible spirit
of the hero, and the blasts of the bugles rose above the gale and the
sea.

VI. IN THE PANTHEON

In the Pantheon crypt, destined, as the inscription says, for the burial
of great men, the name of Guynemer will be graven on a marble slab
cemented in the wall. The proper inscription for this slab will be the
young soldier's last citation:

FALLEN ON THE FIELD OF HONOR ON SEPTEMBER 11, 1917. A LEGENDARY
HERO, FALLEN FROM THE VERY ZENITH OF VICTORY AFTER THREE YEARS'
HARD AND CONTINUOUS FIGHTING. HE WILL BE CONSIDERED THE MOST
PERFECT EMBODIMENT OF THE NATIONAL QUALITIES FOR HIS INDOMITABLE
ENERGY AND PERSEVERANCE AND HIS EXALTED GALLANTRY. FULL OF
INVINCIBLE BELIEF IN VICTORY, HE HAS BEQUEATHED TO THE FRENCH
SOLDIER AN IMPERISHABLE M