Earl looked about him. He was in a long room with high ceilings and
his surroundings seemed very unfamiliar to him. He was lying flat on
his back and he tried to rise; a heavy weight seemed to hold him down
and he felt a dull pain in his leg. He discovered that he was lying in
a bed.

He turned his head to one side and spied another bed; in fact the room
was filled with them. He was in a hospital, but how had he been
wounded? He had no recollection of it. Every bed had an occupant;
Earl looked the other way and the same sight met his eye. In the bed
to his left, much to his amazement, he discovered Jacques. So he too
was wounded. How had it all happened? Suddenly he remembered the
ambulance and the violent jar they had received; that must have been it.

A white-clad nurse approached his bed.

"Are you comfortable?" she inquired gently.

"Yes," said Earl, "but how did I get here? What happened?"

"You and your brother and your friend were in an ambulance and ran into
a shell hole. You were all thrown out and your leg was broken."

"Is my brother here?" demanded Earl eagerly. "Where is he?"

"In this next bed."

Leon looked to his right. "That fellow with the bandages all around
his head?" he exclaimed in alarm. "What is the matter with him?"

"He has concussion of the brain; his head is also cut."

"Is it dangerous?"

"I think not now."

"Thank goodness!" said Earl fervently. "How about Jacques?"

"He is only badly bruised," smiled the nurse. "He is asleep now."

"What do you think of us?" demanded Earl disgustedly. "We fight in the
first line trenches for months, in the biggest war in the history of
the world, and we go up in monoplanes and fight battles in the air. In
fact we do about everything dangerous there is to do and no harm comes
to us at all. Then we go out in an automobile and get all smashed up;
that's a fine way to be wounded in war. It makes me sick!"

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIGHTING IN FRANCE***

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