CHAPTER XX
THE BIG GUN
For a moment Tom and Jack did not quite know what to make of the excitement of Major de Trouville. And excited he certainly was beyond a doubt.
"You must come and tell this to Lieutenant Laigney at once," he said. "It may mean something important. Are you sure of the sequence of the colors?" he asked. "That makes all the difference."
"There was first an orange tint," said Tom, "which was followed by green and purple, the last gradually dying out."
"Orange, green and purple," murmured the major. "Can it be that for which we are seeking?"
He hurried along with the boys, seemingly forgetting, in his haste and excitement, that he was their ranking officer. But, as has been noted, the aviators are more like friends and equals than officers and men. There is discipline, of course, but there is none of the rigidity seen in other branches of the army. In
