mile run, and tore into the Grand
Place of Furnes, she was greeted by cheers from the populace. And,
indeed, she was a striking figure in her yellow leather jerkin, her
knee-breeches and puttees, and her shining yellow "doggy" boots. She
carried all the air of an officer planning a desperate coup. As she cut
her famous half-moon curve from the north-east corner of the Place by
the Gendarmerie over to the Hotel at the south-west, she saluted General
de Wette standing on the steps of the Municipal Building. He, of course,
knew her. Who of the Belgian army did not know those three unquenchable
women living up by the trenches on the Yser? He gravely saluted the
streak of yellow as it flashed by. Just when she was due to bend the
curb or telescope her front wheel, she threw in the clutch, and, with a
shriek of metal and a shiver of parts, the car came to a stop. She
jumped out from it and strode away from it, as if it were a cast-off
ware which she was never to see again. She entered the restaurant. At
three of the tables sat officers of the Belgian regiments--lieutenants,
two commandants, one captain. At the fourth table, in the window, was
dear little Doctor Neil McDonnell, beaming at the velocity and sensation
of her advent.

"You come like a yellow peril," said he. "If you are not careful, you
will make more wounded than you heal."

"Never," returned Mrs. Bracher, firmly; "it is always in control."

The Doctor, who was a considerate as well as a brave leader, well knew
how restricted was the diet under which those loyal women lived in the
chilly house, caring for "les blesses" among the entrenched soldiers. So
he extended himself in ordering an ample and various meal, which would
enable Mrs. Bracher to return to her bombarded dug-out with renewed
vigor.

"What's the news?" she asked, after she had broken the back of her
hunger.

"We are expecting a new member for our corps," replied the Doctor, "a
young cyclist of the Belgian army. He fought bravely at Liege and
Namur, and later at Alost. But since Antwerp, his division has been
disbanded, and he has been wandering about. We met him at Dunkirk. We
saw at once how valuable he would be to us, with his knowledge of French
and Flemish, and his bravery."

"Which ambulance will he go out with?" asked Mrs. Bracher.

"He will have a touring-car of his own," replied Dr. McDonnell.

"I thought you said he was a cyclist," objected Mrs. Bracher.

"I gave him an order on C