The Flag
By
PHILADELPHIA
GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1917
George W. Jacobs & Company
All rights reserved
Printed in U. S. A.
List of Illustrations
| He Glared Defiantly About Him | Frontispiece |
| Aleck Turned it Upside Down and Rightside Up, But Failed to Find the Place | Facing p. 54 |
| Into the Face of Death He Led the Remnant of His Brave Platoon | " 274 |
| The French Hospital's Greeting to the American Colonel | " 316 |
THE FLAG
CHAPTER I
Snow everywhere; freshly fallen, white and beautiful. It lay unsulliedon the village roofs, and, trampled but not yet soiled, in the villagestreets. The spruce trees on the lawn at Bannerhall were weighted withit, and on the lawn itself it rested, like an ermine blanket, soft andsatisfying. Down the steps of the porch that stretched across thefront of the mansion, a boy ran, whistling, to the street.
He was slender and wiry, agile and sure-footed. He had barely reachedthe gate when the front door of the square, stately old brick housewas opened and a woman came out on the porch and called to him.
"Pen!"
"Yes, Aunt Millicent." He turned to listen to her.
"Pen, don't forget that your grandfather's[Pg 2] going to New York on thefive-ten train, and that you are to be at the station to see him off."
"I won't forget, auntie."
"And then come straight home."
"Straight as a string, Aunt Milly."
"All right! Good-by!"
"Good-by!"
He passed through the gate, and down the street toward the center ofthe village. It was the noon recess and he was on his way back toschool where he must report at one-fifteen sharp. He had an abundanceof time, however, and he stopped in front of the post-office to talkwith another boy about t