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

Each day, while one of the American girls rode to the front, the other
two would visit the city hospitals and render whatever assistance they
could to the regular nurses. Gys sometimes accompanied them and
sometimes went to the front with the ambulance; but he never caused his
friends 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 the
capture 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 return
to the docks, where their launch was moored, they found a street urchin
awaiting them with a soiled scrap of paper clenched fast in his fist.
He surrendered it for a coin and Patsy found the following words
scrawled in English:

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

They laughed a little at first and then began to realize that the loss
of 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 keep
up with him. He made many turns and twists through narrow alleys and
back streets until finally he brought them to a row of cheap, plastered
huts built against the old city wall. There was no mistaking the place,
for in the doorway of one of the poorest dwellings stood Clarette, her
ample figure fairly filling the opening, her hands planted firmly on her
broad hips.