k, and by to-morrow they will pour an irresistible
horde against the German invader. If we stay here, we are sure to remain
in the rear of the firing line."

CHAPTER X

THE WAR'S VICTIMS

While the others were conversing on deck Maud Stanton was ministering to
the maimed victims of the war's cruelty, who tossed and moaned below.
The main cabin and its accompanying staterooms had been fitted with all
the conveniences of a modern hospital. Twenty-two could easily be
accommodated in the rooms and a dozen more in the cabin, so that the
eleven now in their charge were easily cared for. Of these, only three
had been seriously injured. One was the German, who, however, was now
sleeping soundly under the influence of the soothing potion that
followed his operation. The man's calmness and iron nerve indicated that
he would make a rapid recovery. Another was the young Belgian soldier
picked up in the roadway near the firing line, who had been shot in the
back and had not yet recovered consciousness. Dr. Gys had removed
several bits of exploded shell and dressed the wound, shaking his head
discouragingly. But since the young man was still breathing, with a
fairly regular respiration, no attempt was made to restore him to his
senses.

The third seriously injured was a French sergeant whose body was
literally riddled with shrapnel. A brief examination had convinced Gys
that the case was hopeless.

"He may live until morning," was the doctor's report as he calmly looked
down upon the moaning sergeant, "but no longer. Meanwhile, we must
prevent his suffering."

This he accomplished by means of powerful drugs. The soldier soon lay in
a stupor, awaiting the end, and nothing more could be done for him.

Of the others, two Belgians with bandaged heads were playing a quiet
game of ecarte in a corner of the cabin, while another with a slight
wound in his leg was stretched upon a couch, reading a book. A young
French officer who had lost three fingers of his hand was cheerfully
conversing with a comrade whose scalp had been torn by a bullet and who
declared that in two days he would return to the front. The others Maud
found asleep in their berths or lying quietly to ease their pain. It was
remarkable, however, how little suffering was caused these men by flesh
wounds, once they were properly dressed and the patients made
comfortable with food and warmth and the assurance of proper care.

So it was that Maud found her dutie