"Pretty good, boy! Keep it up," said Chase.

"And Neptune, gaunt and threatening, with his arm upraised, appears to be urging them on, as though unmindful of the fact that he and they are forever destined to remain immovable!"

"Bravo!"

Standing before the time-worn group, in the lonely and deserted park, with the vegetation all about them rustling in the faint breeze, Don Hale felt a peculiar sensation of awe stealing over him.

"Dunstan was right—it makes a chap almost feel as if he were living in another age," he thought. And then, aloud, the aviator's son exclaimed: "How curious it is to think that perhaps two or three hundred years ago people may have looked upon this very same group!"

"Yes; in all probability kings and courtiers, grand seigneurs and noble dames once cast their eyes upon it," remarked Dunstan. "Ah, if I could only invoke the muse, what a grand poem I could compose!"

"And by so doing either provoke or amuse us," chuckled Chase, with the first laugh he had been heard to utter during the day.

"Good!—Chase's second joke!" cried Don, approvingly.

"Allons, mes amis—let's go!"

The trio, skirting around the fountain, reached the road again and continued to tramp steadily on. The way led up a slight ascent, and occasionally, through openings in the trees, they caught glimpses of charming bits of scenery, with shadowy, mysterious-looking hills looming up beyond. Then they observed what had once been very wonderful lawns, but which were now mere fields overrun with weeds and tall grasses and deeply pitted here and there with shell-holes.

They were approaching a bend, and the moment the turn was reached Dunstan stopped short, and, with a wave of his hand, exclaimed dramatically:

"The Château de Morancourt is before our eyes!" cried Don. "Hooray!"

"The park seems to equal the château and the château to equal the park," commented Chase.

Not far ahead, situated on the crest of a hill, the grim-looking mediæval structure, with its wings and gables and partly demolished tower, presented a singularly impressive appearance. From where they stood the soft, mysterious light of the moon mercifully concealed from view the great damage 

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