livid
face and a torn uniform, and saw that he was an officer, and nearly done
for. Rechamp had climbed to the box, and seemed not to be noticing what
was going on at the back of the motor. I understood that he loathed the
job, and wanted not to see the face of the man we were carrying; so when
we had got him settled I jumped into the ambulance beside him and called
out to Bechamp that we were ready. A second later an _infirmier_ ran
up with a little packet and pushed it into my hand. "His papers," he
explained. I pocketed them and pulled the door shut, and we were off.

The man lay motionless on his back, conscious, but desperately weak.
Once I turned my pocket-lamp on him and saw that he was young--about
thirty--with damp dark hair and a thin face. He had received a
flesh-wound above the eyes, and his forehead was bandaged, but the rest
of the face uncovered. As the light fell on him he lifted his eyelids
and looked at me: his look was inscrutable.

For half an hour or so I sat there in the dark, the sense of that face
pressing close on me. It was a damnable face--meanly handsome, basely
proud. In my one glimpse of it I had seen that the man was suffering
atrociously, but as we slid along through the night he made no sound.
At length the motor stopped with a violent jerk that drew a single moan
from him. I turned the light on him, but he lay perfectly still, lips
and lids shut, making no sign; and I jumped out and ran round to the
front to see what had happened.

The motor had stopped for lack of gasolene and was stock still in the
deep mud. Rechamp muttered something about a leak in his tank. As he
bent over it, the lantern flame struck up into his face, which was set
and businesslike. It struck me vaguely that he showed no particular
surprise.

"What's to be done?" I asked.

"I think I can tinker it up; but we've got to have more essence to go on
with."

I stared at him in despair: it was a good hour's walk back to the lines,
and we weren't so sure of getting any gasolene when we got there! But
there was no help for it; and as Rechamp was dead lame, no alternative
but for me to go.

I opened the ambulance door, gave another look at the motionless man
inside and took out a remedy which I handed over to Rechamp with a word
of explanation. "You know how to give a hypo? Keep a close eye on him
and pop this in if you see a change--not otherwise."

He nodded. "Do you suppose he'll die?" he asked below his breath