geon
strode on, Nicko bowed. He bowed from the hips--and Ruth gasped as she
saw the obeisance. Only yesterday she had seen a man bow in that same
way!

CHAPTER IX

COT 24--HUT H

The guns on the battle front had been silent for twenty-four hours; but
there were whispers of the Yankees "getting back" at the Heinies in
return for the outbreak of German gunfire which had startled Ruth
Fielding the afternoon she had taken tea at the Chateau Marchand.

The outbreak of the new attack--this time from the American side--began
about nine o'clock at night. A barrage was laid down, behind which,
Ruth learned, several raiding parties would go over.

Just the method of this advance across No Man's Land Ruth did not
understand. But all the time the guns were roaring back and forth
(for, of course, the Germans quickly replied) she knew the American
boys were in peril all along that sector.

That was a bad night for Ruth. She lay in her cot awake, but with her
eyes closed, breathing deeply and regularly so that those about her
thought she was asleep.

In the morning the matron said:

"You are really quite wonderful, Miss Fielding, to sleep through all
that. I wish I could do the same."

And all night long Ruth had been praying--praying for the safety of the
boys that had gone over the top, not for herself. That she was in
danger did not greatly trouble her. She thought of the soldiers. She
thought particularly of Tom Cameron--wherever he might be!

The flurry of gunfire was over by dawn. After breakfast Ruth went down
to the gate. She had heard the ambulances rolling in for hours, and
now she saw the stretcher-bearers stumbling into the receiving ward
with the broken men. Here they were operated upon, when necessary, and
sorted out--the _grands blesses_ sent to the more difficult wards, the
less seriously wounded to others.

Curiosity did not bring Ruth to the gate. It was in the hope of seeing
Charlie Bragg that she went there. Nor was she disappointed.

His shaky old car rolled up with three men under the canvas and one
with a bandaged arm sitting on the seat beside him. Charlie was pale
and haggard. Half the top of the ambulance had been shot away since
she had ridden in it, and the boy had roughly repaired the damage with
a blanket. But he nodded to Ruth with his old cheerful grin. Nothing
could entirely quench Charlie Bragg.

"Got tipped over and holed up in a marmite cave for a couple of h