n!

Then, as I sit there, Calvert seeks me out. He has joined an ambulance
corps that is going to the Front. Will I come in?

"Yes," I say; "I'll do anything."

So it is all settled. To-morrow I give up my freedom.

BOOK FOUR ~~ WINTER

I

The Somme Front, January 1915.

There is an avenue of noble beeches leading to the Chateau, and in the
shadow of each glimmers the pale oblong of an ambulance. We have to keep
them thus concealed, for only yesterday morning a Taube flew over. The
beggars are rather partial to Red Cross cars. One of our chaps, taking
in a load of wounded, was chased and pelted the other day.

The Chateau seems all spires and towers, the glorified dream of a
Parisian pastrycook. On its terrace figures in khaki are lounging. They
are the volunteers, the owner-drivers of the Corps, many of them men of
wealth and title. Curious to see one who owns all the coal in two
counties proudly signing for his _sou_ a day; or another, who lives in a
Fifth Avenue palace, contentedly sleeping on the straw-strewn floor of a
hovel.

Here is a rhyme I have made of such an one:

Priscilla

Jerry MacMullen, the millionaire,
Driving a red-meat bus out there--
How did he win his _Croix de Guerre_?
Bless you, that's all old stuff:
Beast of a night on the Verdun road,
Jerry stuck with a woeful load,
Stalled in the mud where the red lights glowed,
Prospect devilish tough.

"Little Priscilla" he called his car,
Best of our battered bunch by far,
Branded with many a bullet scar,
Yet running so sweet and true.
Jerry he loved her, knew her tricks;
Swore: "She's the beat of the best big six,
And if ever I get in a deuce of a fix
Priscilla will pull me through."

"Looks pretty rotten right now," says he;
"Hanged if the devil himself could see.
Priscilla, it's up to you and me
To show 'em what we can do."
Seemed that Priscilla just took the word;
Up with a leap like a horse that's spurred,
On with the joy of a homing bird,
Swift as the wind she flew.

Shell-holes shoot at them out of the night;
A lurch to the left, a wrench to the right,
Hands grim-gripping and teeth clenched tight,
Eyes that glare through the dark.
"Priscilla, you're doing me proud this day;
Hospital's only a league away,
And, honey, I'm longing to hit th