ked Mrs. Bracher.

"He shot an officer in the skirmish at Zele."

"He must have been a busy man with his rifle," commented Mrs. Bracher.

"He was. He was," said Hilda. "Why, he's shot fifty-one men, since the
war began."

"Does he keep notches on his rifle?" queried Mrs. Bracher.

"I think it's a privilege to have a man as brave as he is going out with
us," replied Hilda. "We must bore him frightfully."

"He's peaceful enough now, isn't he," observed Mrs. Bracher, "trotting
around with a Red Cross Ambulance Corps. I should think he'd miss the
old days."

* * * * *

Hilda and Mrs. Bracher were having an early morning stroll.

"It's a little too hot up by the trenches," said the nurse; "we'll take
the Furnes road."

"It was a wet night, last night," commented she, after they had trudged
along for a few minutes.

"Are you going to walk me to Furnes?" asked Hilda.

"You're losing your prairie zip," retorted Mrs. Bracher. "You ought to
be glad of the air, after that smelly straw."

"The air is better than the mud," returned Hilda, holding up a boot,
which had gathered part of the roadway to itself.

"We'll be there in a minute," said the nurse.

"Where's there?" asked Hilda.

"Right here," answered Mrs. Bracher.

They had come to the deserted farm-house where she had once met with her
delay and where she had knocked in vain.

"See here," she exclaimed.

"Wheel marks," said Hilda.

"Motor-car tracks," corrected Mrs. Bracher.

The soggy turf that led from the road into the door-yard of the
farm-house was deeply and freshly indented.

"Perhaps some one's here now," suggested Hilda.

"Never fear," answered the nurse. "It's night work."

"Up to two weeks ago," she went on, "this farm was shot at, every day,
from over the Yser. Since then, it hasn't been shelled at all."

"What of it?" asked Hilda.

"We'll see," said Mrs. Bracher. "It always pays to get up early, doesn't
it, my dear?"

"I don't know," returned the girl, dubiously. She was footsore with Mrs.
Bracher's speed.

"Well, that's enough for one morning," concluded the nurse, with one
last look about the farm.

"I should think it was," agreed Hilda.

They returned to their dressing-station.

* * * * *

It was early evening, and the nurses had finished their frugal supper.
With the dishes cleared away, they were sitting for a cosy chat about
the table. Overhead hung a la