ous was
the injury or the urgency for attention. His hours were laid down, and
he would not stay a minute later for anything. Fortunately, Dr. Ascher,
who resented this inflexible system, would attend the most pressing
cases upon his own initiative, for which, it is needless to say, he
received the most heartfelt thanks.

Before the duty of examining the wounded soldiers commenced there was a
breeze between Dr. Ascher and the military surgeon. The former insisted
that the patients should receive attention as they lined up--first come
to be first served, and irrespective of nationality. But the military
doctor would have none of this. His hatred of the British was so intense
that he could not resist any opportunity to reveal his feelings. I
really think that he would willingly have refused to attend to the
British soldiers at all if his superior orders had not charged him with
this duty. So he did the next worse thing to harass our heroes. He
expressed his intention to attend first to the Belgians, then to the
French, and to the British last. They could wait, notwithstanding that
their injuries were more severe and the patients more numerous than
those of the other two Allies put together. This decision, however, was
only in consonance with the general practice of the camp--the British
were always placed last in everything. If the military surgeon thought
that his arbitrary attitude would provoke protests and complaints among
the British soldiers he was grievously mistaken, because they accepted
his decision without a murmur.

The queue outside the hospital was exceedingly lengthy. The heat was
intense and grew intolerable as the day advanced and the sun climbed
higher into the heavens. To aggravate matters a dust-storm blew up. The
British wounded at the end of the line had a dreary, long, and agonising
wait. Half-dead from fatigue, hunger, and racked with pain it is not
surprising that many collapsed into the dust, more particularly as they
could not secure the slightest shelter or relief from the broiling sun.
As the hours wore on they dropped like flies, to receive no attention
whatever,--except from their less-wounded comrades, who strove might and
main to render the plight of the worst afflicted as tolerable as the
circumstances would permit. Dr. Ascher toiled in the hospital like a
Trojan, but the military doctor was not disposed to exert himself
unduly.

To make matters worse this despicable disciple of AEscul