a very worried and very harassed
man. He was just hanging up on the telephone when they burst in. He saw
them, started to wave them outside, but suddenly checked the motion.

"Come in, you two," he called to them. "How do you feel?"

"Swell," Dave said.

"Very fit, sir," Freddy said.

The medical officer nodded and then stared at them a moment or two and
drummed nervous fingers on the top of his desk.

"You've heard the news?" he suddenly asked.

They nodded, and waited.

"It puts us in a tight corner," the officer said. "And it puts me in a
_very_ tight corner. I've just received orders from G.H.Q. to evacuate
this hospital at once. There are over five hundred wounded men here, and
only a dozen ambulances. We're to evacuate to the Base Hospital at St.
Omer. Now ... You chaps told me the truth, eh? You _do_ feel fit?"

"Gee, yes!" Dave exclaimed. "We came in here to see if there wasn't
something we could do to help. We feel swell, honest."

"That's right, sir," Freddy nodded. "And there _is_ something we can
do?"

"There is," the medical officer said. "I haven't enough ambulance
drivers, and we've got to get these wounded men out of here at once.
Before tonight, in fact. I'll tell you the truth, boys. At the speed the
Germans are advancing, now that the Belgians have given up, they'll be
here in Lille, tonight!"

"Gee!" Dave breathed softly. "Right here in this place, tonight?"

The medical officer nodded and held up a hand.

"Hear those guns?" he said gravely. "They are not more than twenty miles
away, and they are German. We've got to work fast, boys. Every man we
have to leave here will become a German prisoner of war. I wouldn't ask
you, except that the situation is desperate. By rights, you two should
go along with the wounded, instead of driving them. But it is a grave
emergency, and every one who can, _must_ help."

"We're ready, sir," Freddy said quietly. "What are your orders?"

A smile of deep gratitude flickered across the officer's face.

"Get into your regular clothes, first," he said with a smile. "Then
report to Lieutenant Baker in the ambulance parking lot by the south
wing. And, thank you, boys. We'll meet again at St. Omer."

The two boys grinned, then turned on their heels and raced back to the
ward for their clothes. The wounded soldiers suspected that something
was up, and a hundred questions were hurled at them. They didn't bother
to answer any of them. They simply piled into t