e ship and crew. I'll
attend to the rest."

"And Beth and I will be Uncle John's assistants," said Patsy. "We shall
want heaps of lint and bandages, drugs and liniments and--"

"And, above all, a doctor," advised Ajo. "One of the mates on my yacht,
Kelsey by name, is a half-way physician, having studied medicine in his
youth and practiced it on the crew for the last dozen years; but what we
really need on a hospital ship is a bang-up surgeon."

"This promises to become an expensive undertaking," remarked Maud, with
a sigh. "Perhaps it will be better to let me go alone, as I originally
expected to do. But, if we take along the hospital ship, do not be
extravagant, Mr. Merrick, in equipping it. I feel that I have been the
innocent cause of drawing you all into this venture and I do not want it
to prove a hardship to my friends."

"All right, Maud," returned Uncle John, with a cheerful grin, "I'll try
to economize, now that you've warned me."

Ajo smiled and Patsy Doyle laughed outright. They knew it would not
inconvenience the little rich man, in the slightest degree, to fit out a
dozen hospital ships.

CHAPTER III

THE DECISION OF DOCTOR GYS

Uncle John was up bright and early next morning, and directly after
breakfast he called upon his old friend and physician, Dr. Barlow. After
explaining the undertaking on which he had embarked, Mr. Merrick added:

"You see, we need a surgeon with us; a clever, keen chap who understands
his business thoroughly, a sawbones with all the modern scientific
discoveries saturating him to his finger-tips. Tell me where to get
him."

Dr. Barlow, recovering somewhat from his astonishment, smiled
deprecatingly.

"The sort of man you describe," said he, "would cost you a fortune, for
you would oblige him to abandon a large and lucrative practice in order
to accompany you. I doubt, indeed, if any price would tempt him to
abandon his patients."

"Isn't there some young fellow with these requirements?"

"Mr. Merrick, you need a physician and surgeon combined. Wounds lead to
fever and other serious ailments, which need skillful handling. You
might secure a young man, fresh from his clinics, who would prove a good
surgeon, but to master the science of medicine, experience and long
practice are absolutely necessary."

"We've got a half-way medicine man on the ship now--a fellow who has
doctored the crew for years and kept 'em pretty healthy. So I guess a
surgeon will about