e telephone aide in Feller's eyrie artillery lookout.

Feller received the word with his clucking "La, la, la!" and hummed a
tune while the connection was being made. He had not spoken with Lanny
since his own promotion to a colonelcy and Partow's death.

"My ear-drums split for joy at hearing your voice again!" Feller cried.
"A regiment of guns for yours truly! You've made me the happiest man in
the world. And haven't I smacked the Grays in the tummy, not to mention
in the nose and on the shins! Well, I should say so! La, la, la!"

"You certainly have, you bully old boy!" said Lanstron. "Miss Galland
sends her congratulations and regards."

"Eh, what? Her regards to me! The telephone still continues to work? Our
own original trunk-tunnel private line? Eh? Tell me; tell me, quick!"

"Yes, she has performed the greatest service of the war--better than you
could have done it, Gustave!"

"Whee-ee! Why not? Of course! I'm not surprised. She's the greatest
woman in the world, I tell you, and I know! And she sends her regards to
her old gardener? Think of that! If trouble never comes singly, why
shouldn't joys come in a pour? Oh, it she could see me now, so cosey up
here among the birds, chucking shells about as cheerily as if I were
tossing roses to the ladies in a ballroom!"

"She wants you to have every chance," said Lanstron.

"She asks that for me!"

The peculiar intimate fervor of the exclamation sprang from a Feller in
an officer's uniform who could now move in Marta's world. Lanstron
hurried on to explain the nature of the next attack.

"If we repulse them we are going to throw in a ram of our own," he said.
"We're going to take the aggressive for the moment. It is the only sure
policy for successful defence."

"Right! Now you're talking. We learned that principle at school, didn't
we?"

"And that means a bigger chance for you, Gustave. We are bringing up
reserve artillery and making new dispositions. I am going to give you
charge of the field-guns. But the chief of artillery will tell you about
your work."

"This is heaven, Lanny! How am I ever going to--"

"There, no thanks, Gustave. You are the man. It is a time when only
efficiency must be considered."

"Then I have made good! Then I've been worthy of my opportunity! I'd
rather be a good gunner than a king. I'll eat this new work and smack my
lips for more. Tell Miss Galland that every shell that hits the mark is
a thought from the old gardener f