Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross

by L. Frank Baum

  CHAPTER XIX

  THE CAPTURE

  There was considerable excitement when the ambulance returned. Part ofthe roof had been torn away, the doors were gone, the interior wreckedand not a pane of glass remained in the sides; yet Ajo drove it to thedock, the motor working as smoothly as ever, and half a dozen woundedwere helped out and put into the launch to be taken aboard the hospitalship.

  When all were on deck, young Jones briefly explained what had happened.A shell had struck the ambulance, which had been left in the rear, butwithout injuring the motor in any way. Fortunately no one was near atthe time. When they returned they cleared away the rubbish to make roomfor a few wounded men and then started back to the city.

  Doctor Gys, hatless and coatless, his hair awry and the mask making himlook more hideous than ever, returned with the party and came creepingup the ship's ladder in so nervous a condition that his trembling kneesfairly knocked together.

  The group around Ajo watched him silently.

  "What do you think that fool did?" asked the boy, as Gys slunk away tohis room.

  "Tell us," pleaded Patsy, who was one of the curious group surroundinghim.

  "We had gone near to where a machine gun was planted, to pick up afallen soldier, when without warning the Germans charged the gun. Maurieand I made a run for life, but Gys stood stock still, facing the enemy.A man at the gun reeled and fell, just then, and with a hail of bulletsflying around him the doctor coolly walked up and bent over him. Thesight so amazed the Germans that they actually stopped fighting andwaited for him. Perhaps it was the Red Cross on the doctor's arm thatinfluenced them, but imagine a body of soldiers in the heat of a chargesuddenly stopping because of one man!"

  "Well, what happened?" asked Mr. Merrick.

  "I couldn't see very well, for a battery that supported the charge wasshelling the retreating Allies and just then our ambulance was hit. ButMaurie says he watched the scene and that when Gys attempted to lift thewounded man up he suddenly turned weak as water. The Germans hadcaptured the gun, by this time, and their officer himself hoisted theinjured man upon the doctor's shoulders and attended him to ourambulance. When I saw the fight was over I hastened to help Gys, whostaggered so weakly that he would have dropped his man a dozen times onthe way had not the Germans held him up. They were laughing, as if thewhole thing was a joke, when crack! came a volley of bullets and with agreat shout back rushed the French and Belgians in a counter-charge. Iadmit I ducked, crawling under the ambulance, and the Germans were sosurprised that they beat a quick retreat.

  "And now it was that Gys made a fool of himself. He tore off his cap andcoat, which bore the Red Cross emblem, and leaped right between the twolines. Here were the Germans, firing as they retreated, and the Alliesfiring as they charged, and right in the center of the fray stood Gys.The man ought to have been shot to pieces, but nothing touched himuntil a Frenchman knocked him over because he was in the way of therush. It was the most reckless, suicidal act I ever heard of!"

  Uncle John looked worried. He had never told any of them of Dr. Gys'strange remark during their first interview, but he had not forgottenit. "I'll be happier when I can shake off this horrible envelope ofdisfigurement," the doctor had declared, and in view of this the reportof that day's adventure gave the kind-hearted gentleman a severe shock.

  He walked the deck thoughtfully while the girls hurried below to lookafter the new patients who had been brought, not too comfortably, in thedamaged ambulance. "It was a bad fight," Ajo had reported, "and thewounded were thick, but we could only bring a few of them. Before weleft the field, however, an English ambulance and two French onesarrived, and that gave us an opportunity to get away. Indeed, I was sounnerved by the dangers we had miraculously escaped that I was glad tobe out of it."

  Uncle John tried hard to understand Doctor Gys, but the man's strange,abnormal nature was incomprehensible. When, half an hour later, Mr.Merrick went below, he found the doctor in the operating room, cool andsteady of nerve and dressing wounds in his best professional manner.

  Upon examination the next morning the large ambulance was found to be sobadly damaged that it had to be taken to a repair shop in the city toundergo reconstruction. It would take several weeks to put it in shape,declared the French mechanics, so the Americans would be forced to getalong with the smaller vehicle. Jones and Dr. Kelsey made regular tripswith this, but the fighting had suddenly lulled and for several days nonew patients were brought to the ship, although many were given firstaid in the trenches for slight wounds.

  So the colony aboard the _Arabella_ grew gradually less, until on thetwenty-sixth of November the girls found they had but two patients tocare for--Elbl and Andrew Denton. Neither required much nursing, andDenton's young wife insisted on taking full charge of him. But while thehospital ship was not in demand at this time there were casualties dayby day in the trenches, where the armies faced each other doggedly andwatchfully and shots were frequently interchanged when a soldiercarelessly exposed his person to the enemy. So the girls took turnsgoing with the ambulance, and Uncle John made no protest because solittle danger attended these journeys.

  Each day, while one of the American girls rode to the front, the othertwo would visit the city hospitals and render whatever assistance theycould to the regular nurses. Gys sometimes accompanied them andsometimes went to the front with the ambulance; but he never caused hisfriends anxiety on these trips, because he could not endanger his life,owing to the cessation of fighting.

  The only incident that enlivened this period of stagnation was thecapture of Maurie. No; the authorities didn't get him, but Clarette did.Ajo and Patsy had gone into the city one afternoon and on their returnto the docks, where their launch was moored, they found a street urchinawaiting them with a soiled scrap of paper clenched fast in his fist.He surrendered it for a coin and Patsy found the following wordsscrawled in English:

  "She has me fast. Help! Be quick. I cannot save myself so you must saveme. It is your Maurie who is in distress."

  They laughed a little at first and then began to realize that the lossof their chauffeur would prove a hardship when fighting was resumed.Maurie might not be a good husband, and he might be afraid of a woman,but was valuable when bullets were flying. Patsy asked the boy:

  "Can you lead us to the man who gave you this paper?"

  "Oui, mamselle."

  "Then hurry, and you shall have five centimes more."

  The injunction was unnecessary, for the urchin made them hasten to keepup with him. He made many turns and twists through narrow alleys andback streets until finally he brought them to a row of cheap, plasteredhuts built against the old city wall. There was no mistaking the place,for in the doorway of one of the poorest dwellings stood Clarette, herample figure fairly filling the opening, her hands planted firmly on herbroad hips.

  "Good evening," said Patsy pleasantly. "Is Maurie within?"

  "Henri is within," answered Clarette with a fierce scowl, "and he isgoing to stay within."

  "But we have need of his services," said Ajo sternly, "and the man is inour employ and under contract to obey us."

  "I also need his services," retorted Clarette, "and I made a contractwith him before you did, as my marriage papers will prove."

  The little boy and girl had now crowded into the doorway on either sideof their mother, clinging to her skirts while they "made faces" at theAmericans. Clarette turned to drive the children away and in the actallowed Patsy and Ajo to glance past her into the hut.

  There stood little Maurie, sleeves rolled above his elbows, bending overa battered dishpan where he was washing a mess of cracked and brokenpottery. He met their gaze with a despairing countenance and a gestureof appeal that scattered a spray of suds from big wet fingers. Nextmoment Clarette had filled the doorway again.

  "You may as well go away," said the woman harshly.

  Patsy stood irresolute.

  "Have you money to pay the rent and to provide food and clothing?" shepresently asked.
<
br />   "I have found a few francs in Henri's pockets," was the surly reply.

  "And when they are gone?"

  Clarette gave a shrug.

  "When they are gone we shall not starve," she said. "There is plenty ofcharity for the Belgians these days. One has but to ask, and someonegives."

  "Then you will not let us have Maurie?"

  "No, mademoiselle." Then she unbent a little and added: "If my husbandgoes to you, they will be sure to catch him some day, and when theycatch him they will shoot him."

  "Why?"

  "Don't you know?"

  "No."

  Clarette smiled grimly.

  "When Henri escapes me, he always gets himself into trouble. He is notso very bad, but he is careless--and foolish. He tries to help theGermans and the French at the same time, to be accommodating, and soboth have conceived a desire to shoot him. Well; when they shoot him hecan no longer earn money to support me and his children."

  "Are they really his children?" inquired young Jones.

  "Who else may claim them, monsieur?"

  "I thought they were the children of your first husband, theblacksmith."

  Clarette glared at him, with lowering brow.

  "Blacksmith? Pah! I have no husband but Henri, and heaven forsook mewhen I married him."

  "Come, Patsy," said Ajo to his companion, "our errand here is hopeless.And--perhaps Clarette is right."

  They made their way back to the launch in silence. Patsy was quitedisappointed in Maurie. He had so many admirable qualities that it was ashame he could be so untruthful and unreliable.

  As time passed on the monotony that followed their first excitingexperiences grew upon them and became oppressive. December weather inFlanders brought cutting winds from off the North Sea and often therewere flurries of snow in the air. They had steam heat inside the shipbut the deck was no longer a practical lounging place.

  Toward the last of the month Lieutenant Elbl was so fully recovered thathe was able to hobble about on crutches. The friendship between the twocousins continued and Elbl was often found in the captain's room. Nomore had been said about a parole, but the French officials wereevidently keeping an eye on the German, for one morning an order came toMr. Merrick to deliver Elbl to the warden of the military prison atDunkirk on or before ten o'clock the following day.

  While the German received this notification with his accustomed stolidair of indifference, his American friends were all grieved at histransfer. They knew the prison would be very uncomfortable for theinvalid and feared he was not yet sufficiently recovered to be able tobear the new conditions imposed upon him. There was no thought ofprotesting the order, however, for they appreciated the fact that thecommandant had been especially lenient in leaving the prisoner so longin their care.

  The Americans were all sitting together in the cabin that evening afterdinner, when to their astonishment little Maurie came aboard in a skiff,bearing an order from the French commandant to Captain Carg, requestinghim to appear at once at military headquarters.

  Not only was Carg puzzled by this strange summons but none of the otherscould understand it. The Belgian, when questioned, merely shook hishead. He was not the general's confidant, but his fee as messenger wouldenable him to buy bread for his family and he had been chosen because heknew the way to the hospital ship.

  As there was nothing to do but obey, the captain went ashore in one ofthe launches, which towed the skiff in which Maurie had come.

  When he had gone, Lieutenant Elbl, who had been sitting in the cabin,bade the others good night and retired to his room. Most of the othersretired early, but Patsy, Uncle John and Doctor Gys decided to sit upand await the return of the captain. It was an exceptionally coolevening and the warmth of the forward cabin was very agreeable.

  Midnight had arrived when the captain's launch finally drew up to theside and Carg came hastening into the cabin. His agitated manner was sounusual that the three watchers with one accord sprang to their feetwith inquiring looks.

  "Where's Elbl?" asked the captain sharply.

  "Gone to bed," said Uncle John.

  "When?"

  "Hours ago. I think he missed your society and was rather broken up overthe necessity of leaving us to-morrow."

  Without hesitation Carg turned on his heel and hastened aft. Theyfollowed him in a wondering group. Reaching the German's stateroom thecaptain threw open the door and found it vacant.

  "Humph!" he exclaimed. "I suspected the truth when I found our launchwas gone."

  "Which launch?" asked Uncle John, bewildered.

  "The one I left with the ship. On my return, just now, I discovered itwas not at its moorings. Someone has stolen it."

  They stared at him in amazement.

  "Wasn't the deck patrolled?" asked Patsy, the first to recover.

  "We don't set a watch till ten-thirty. It wasn't considered necessary.But I had no suspicion of the trick Elbl has played on me to-night," headded with a groan. Their voices had aroused others. Ajo came out of hisroom, enveloped in a heavy bathrobe, and soon after Maud and Beth joinedthem.

  "What's up?" demanded the boy.

  "The German has tricked us and made his escape," quietly answered Dr.Gys. "For my part, I'm glad of it."

  "It was a conspiracy," growled the captain. "That rascal, Maurie--"

  "Oh, was Maurie in it?"

  "Of course. He was the decoy; perhaps he arranged the whole thing."

  "Didn't the general want you, then?"

  Carg was so enraged that he fairly snorted.

  "Want me? Of course he didn't want me! That treacherous little Belgianled me into the waiting room and said the general would see me in aminute. Then he walked away and I sat there like a bump on a log andwaited. Finally I began to wonder how Maurie, who was always shy offacing the authorities, had happened to be the general's messenger. Itlooked queer. Officers and civilians were passing back and forth but noone paid any attention to me; so after an hour or so I asked an officerwho entered from an inner room, when I could see the general. He saidthe general was not there evenings but would be in his office to-morrowmorning. Then I showed him my order and he glanced at it and said it wasforged; wasn't the general's signature and wasn't in proper form,anyhow. When I started to go he wouldn't let me; said the affair wassuspicious and needed investigation. So he took me to a room full ofofficers and they asked me a thousand fool questions. Said they had norecord of a Belgian named Maurie and had never heard of him before. Icouldn't figure the thing out, and they couldn't; so finally they let mecome back to the ship."

  "Strange," mused Uncle John; "very strange!"

  "I was so stupid," continued Carg, "that I never thought of Elbl beingat the bottom of the affair until I got back and found our launchmissing. Then I remembered that Elbl was to have been turned over to theprison authorities to-morrow and like a flash I saw through the wholething."

  "I'm blamed if _I_ do," declared Mr. Merrick.

  The others likewise shook their heads.

  "He got me out of the way, stole the launch, and is half way to Ostendby this time."

  "Alone? And wounded--still an invalid?"

  "Doubtless Maurie is with him. The rascal can run an automobile; so Isuppose he can run a launch."

  "What puzzles me," remarked Patsy, "is how Lieutenant Elbl ever got holdof Maurie, and induced him to assist him, without our knowing anythingabout it."

  "I used to notice them talking together a good bit," said Jones.

  "But Clarette has kept Maurie a prisoner. She wouldn't let him come backto the ship."

  "He was certainly at liberty to-night," answered Beth. "Isn't thisescape liable to be rather embarrassing to us, Uncle John?"

  "I'm afraid so," was the reply. "We agreed to keep him safely until theauthorities demanded we give him up; and now, at the last minute, we'veallowed him to get away."

  Anxiety was written on every countenance as they considered the seriousnature of this affair. Only Gys seemed composed and unworried. />
  "Is it too late to go in chase of the launch?" asked Ajo, breaking along pause. "They're headed for Ostend, without a doubt, and there's achance that they may run into a sand-bank in the dark, or break down, ormeet with some other accident to delay them."

  "I believe it's worth our while, sir," answered Carg. "The launch wehave is the faster, and the trip will show our good faith, if nothingmore."

  "Then make ready to start at once," said Ajo, "and I'll dress and goalong."

  Carg hurried away to give orders and the boy ran to his stateroom. Fiveminutes later they were away, with four sailors to assist in the captureof the fugitives in case they were overtaken.

  It was a fruitless journey, however. At daybreak, as they neared Ostend,they met their stolen launch coming back, in charge of a sleepy Belgianwho had been hired to return it. The man frankly stated that he hadundertaken the task in order to get to Dunkirk, where he had friends,and he had been liberally paid by a German on crutches, who had one footmissing, and a little Belgian whom he had never seen before, but who,from the description given, could be none other than Maurie.

  They carried the man back with them to the _Arabella_, where furtherquestioning added nothing to their information. They now had proof,however, that Elbl was safe with his countrymen at Ostend and thatMaurie had been his accomplice.

  "I would not believe," said Patsy, when she heard the story, "that aBelgian could be so disloyal to his country."

  "Every nation has its quota of black sheep," replied Uncle John, "andfrom what we have learned of Maurie's character he is not at allparticular which side he serves."

  CHAPTER XX

  THE DUNES

  The escape of a prisoner of war from the American hospital ship was madethe subject of a rigid inquiry by the officials and proved extremelyhumiliating to all on board the _Arabella_. The commandant showed hisirritation by severely reprimanding Mr. Merrick for carelessness, whileCaptain Carg had to endure a personal examination before a board ofinquiry. He was able to prove that he had been at headquarters duringthe evening of the escape, but that did not wholly satisfy hisinquisitors. Finally an order was issued forbidding the Americans totake any more wounded Germans or Austrians aboard their ship, and thatseemed to end the unpleasant affair.

  However, a certain friction was engendered that was later evidenced onboth sides. The American ambulance was no longer favored on its tripsto the front, pointed preference being given the English and French RedCross Emergency Corps. This resulted in few wounded being taken to the_Arabella_, as the Americans confined their work largely to assistingthe injured on the field of battle. The girls were not to be daunted intheir determined efforts to aid the unfortunate and every day one ofthem visited the trenches to assist the two doctors in rendering firstaid to the wounded.

  The work was no longer arduous, for often entire days would pass withouta single casualty demanding their attention. The cold weather resultedin much sickness among the soldiers, however, and Gys found during thisperiod of military inactivity that his medicine chest was more in demandthan his case of surgical instruments.

  A slight diversion was created by Clarette, who came to the ship todemand her husband from the Americans. It seemed almost impossible toconvince her that Maurie was not hidden somewhere aboard, but at lastthey made the woman understand he had escaped with the German toOstend. They learned from her that Maurie--or Henri, as she insisted hewas named--had several times escaped from her house at night, while shewas asleep, and returned at daybreak in the morning, and thisinformation led them to suspect he had managed to have several secretconferences with Lieutenant Elbl previous to their flight. Claretteannounced her determination to follow her husband to Ostend, and perhapsshe did so, as they did not see her again.

  It was on Sunday, the twentieth of December, that the Battle of theDunes began and the flames of war burst out afresh. The dunes laybetween the North Sea and the Yser River in West Flanders and consistedof a stretch of sandy hillocks reaching from Coxyde to Nieuport lesBains. The Belgians had entrenched these dunes in an elaborate andclever manner, shoveling the sand into a series of high lateral ridges,with alternate hollows, which reached for miles along the coast. Thehollows were from six to eight feet deep, affording protection to thesoldiers, who could nevertheless fire upon the enemy by creeping up thesloping embankments until their heads projected sufficiently to allowthem to aim, when they could drop back to safety.

  In order to connect the hollows one with another, that an advance orretreat might be made under cover, narrow trenches had been cut atintervals diagonally through the raised mounds of sand. Military expertsconsidered this series of novel fortifications to be practicallyimpregnable, for should the enemy defile through one of the crosspassages into a hollow where the Allies were gathered, they could bepicked off one by one, as they appeared, and be absolutely annihilated.

  Realizing this, the Germans had not risked an attack, but after longstudy of the defences had decided that by means of artillery they mightshell the Belgians, who held the dunes, and destroy them as they lay inthe hollows. So a heavy battery had been planted along the German linesfor this work, while in defence the Belgians confronted them with theirown famous dog artillery, consisting of the deadly machine guns. Thebattle of December twentieth therefore began with an artillery duel,resulting in so many casualties that the Red Cross workers foundthemselves fully occupied.

  Beth went with the ambulance the first day, worked in the hollows of thedunes, and returned to the ship at night completely worn out by thedemands upon her services. It was Patsy's turn next, and she took withher the second day one of the French girls as assistant.

  When the ambulance reached the edge of the dunes, where it was driven byAjo, the battle was raging with even more vigor than the previous day.The Germans were dropping shells promiscuously into the various hollows,hoping to locate the hidden Belgian infantry, while the Belgianartillery strove to destroy the German gunners. Both succeeded at times,and both sides were equally persistent.

  As it was impossible to take the ambulance into the dunes, it was leftin the rear in charge of Jones, while the others threaded their way inand out the devious passages toward the front. They had covered fully amile in this laborious fashion before they came upon a detachment ofBelgian infantry which was lying in wait for a call to action. Beyondthis trench the doctors and nurses were forbidden to go, and the officerin command warned the Americans to beware of stray shells.

  Under these circumstances they contented themselves by occupying some ofthe rear hollows, to which the wounded would retreat to secure theirservices. Dr. Kelsey and Nanette, the French girl, establishedthemselves in one hollow at the right, while Dr. Gys and Patsy tooktheir position in another hollow further to the left. There they openedtheir cases of lint, plaster and bandages, spreading them out upon thesand, and were soon engaged in administering aid to an occasional victimof the battle.

  One man who came to Patsy with a slight wound on his shoulder told herthat a shell had exploded in a forward hollow and killed outrightfifteen of his comrades. His own escape from death was miraculous andthe poor fellow was so unnerved that he cried like a baby.

  They directed him to the rear, where he would find the ambulance, andawaited the appearance of more patients. Gys crawled up the mound ofsand in front of them and cautiously raised his head above the ridge.Next instant he ducked to escape a rain of bullets that scattered thesand about them like a mist.

  "That was foolish," said Patsy reprovingly. "You might have beenkilled."

  "No such luck," he muttered in reply, but the girl could see that hetrembled slightly with nervousness. Neither realized at the time thefatal folly of the act, for they were unaware that the Germans wereseeking just such a clew to direct them where to drop their shells.

  "It's getting rather lonely here, and there are a couple of vacanthollows in front of us," remarked the doctor. "Suppose we move over toone of those, a little nearer the soldiers?"

  Patsy approved the
proposition, so they gathered up their supplies andmoved along the hollow to where a passage had been cut through. They hadgone barely a hundred yards when a screech, like a buzz-saw when itstrikes a nail, sounded overhead. Looking up they saw a black diskhurtling through the air, to drop almost where they had been standing amoment before. There was a terrific explosion that sent debris to theirvery feet.

  "After this we'll be careful how we expose ourselves," said the doctorgravely. "They have got our range in a hurry. Here comes another; we'dbetter get away quickly."

  They progressed perhaps half a mile, without coming upon any soldiers,when at the brow of a hill slightly higher than the rest, they becameaware of unwonted activity. A trench had been dug along the ridge, withgreat pits here and there to serve as bomb-proof shelters. Every time ahead projected above the ridge, a storm of bullets showed that the enemywas well within rifle range. In fact, it was to dislodge the Germansthat the present intrenchments were being made; machine guns would bemounted as soon as positions had been prepared.

  The German bullets had already taken their toll. In the little valley apoor Belgian pressed his hand against a bad wound in his side, whileanother was nursing an arm roughly bandaged by his fellows in thetrenches. First aid made the two comfortable for the time being at leastand the men were directed toward the ambulance. As they left, the manwith the wounded arm pointed down the narrow valley to where a deepravine cut through. "We were driven from there," he said. "The big gunsdropped shells on us and killed many; there are many wounded beyond--butyou cannot cross the ravine. We lost ten in doing it."

  Nevertheless, the doctor and Patsy strode off. Just within the shelterof the ridge they found another Belgian, desperately wounded, and thedoctor stopped to ease his pain with the hypodermic needle. Patsy lookedacross the narrow defile; it was a bare fifty feet, and seemed safeenough. Her Red Cross uniform would protect her, she reasoned, andboldly enough she stepped out into the open. A cry from a woundedsoldier ahead hastened her footsteps. Without heeding the warning shoutof Doctor Gys she calmly stooped over the man who had called to her.

  And then there was a sudden rending, blinding, terrifying crash thatsent the world into a thousand shrieking echoes. A huge shell had fallennot fifty feet away, plowing its way through the earthworks above. Itsexplosion sent timbers, abandoned gun-carriages, everything, flyingthrough the air. And one great piece of wood caught Patsy a glancingblow on the back of her head as she crouched over the wounded Belgian.With a weak cry she toppled over, not unconscious, but unable to raiseherself.

  Another shell crashed down a hundred yards away, and then one closerthat sent the sand spouting high in a blinding cloud. She raised herselfslowly and glanced back toward Doctor Gys. He stood, his face ashen withfear, hiding behind the shelter of the other hill. He looked up as shestirred; a cry of relief came to his lips.

  "Wait!" he called, bracing up suddenly. "Wait and I will get you."

  Bending his head low he sprang across the unprotected space. He stoppedwith a sudden jerk and then came on.

  "You were hit!" cried Patsy as he bent over her.

  "It is nothing," he answered brusquely. "Hold tight around my neck.""Now--" another shell scattered sand over them--"we must get away fromhere."

  Breathing thickly, he staggered across the open, dropping her with agreat groan behind the protection of the ridge.

  "The man you were helping," he gasped. "I must bring him in."

  "But you are wounded--" Patsy cried.

  He straightened up--his hand clutched his side--there came across hisdisfigured features a queer twisted smile--he sighed softly and slowlysank in a crumpled heap. A clean little puncture in the breast of hiscoat told the whole story. Patsy felt herself slipping.... All grewdark.

  * * * * *

  It was Ajo who found her and carried her back to the ambulance, whereDr. Kelsey and Nanette were presently able to restore her toconsciousness. Then they returned to the _Arabella_, grave and silent,and Patsy was put to bed. Before morning Beth and Maud were anxiouslynursing her, for she had developed a high fever and was delirious.

  The days that succeed were anxious ones, for Patsy's nerves had givenaway completely. It was many weeks later that the rest of them met ondeck.

  "It's the first of February," said Uncle John. "Don't you suppose Patsycould start for home pretty soon?"

  "Perhaps so," answered Maud. "She is sitting up to-day, and seemsbrighter and more like herself. Have we decided, then, to return toAmerica?"

  "I believe so," was the reply. "We can't keep Ajo's ship forever, youknow, and without Doctor Gys we could never make it useful as a hospitalship again."

  "That is true," said the girl, thoughtfully. "Now that Andrew Denton,with his wife and the countess, have gone to Charleroi, our ship seemsquite lonely."

  "You see," said Ajo, taking part in the discussion, "we've never beenable to overcome the suspicious coldness of these Frenchmen, caused byElbl's unfortunate escape. We are not trusted fully, and never will beagain, so I'm convinced our career of usefulness here is ended."

  "Aside from that," returned Uncle John, "you three girls have endured along period of hard work and nervous strain, and you need a rest. I'mawfully proud of you all; proud of your noble determination and courageas well as the ability you have demonstrated as nurses. You haveunselfishly devoted your lives for three strenuous months to the injuredsoldiers of a foreign war, and I hope you're satisfied that you've doneyour full duty."

  "Well," returned Maud with a smile, "I wouldn't think of retreating if Ifelt that our services were really needed, but there are so many womencoming here for Red Cross work--English, French, Swiss, Dutch andItalian--that they seem able to cover the field thoroughly."

  "True," said Beth, joining the group. "Let's go home, Uncle. The voyagewill put our Patsy in fine shape again. When can we start, Ajo?"

  "Ask Uncle John."

  "Ask Captain Carg."

  "If you really mean it," said the captain, "I'll hoist anchor to-morrowmorning."