up with four
lying cases. At the exit stood Boss and the E.M.O., directing each
ambulance which hospital the cases were to go to. Those journeys back
were perfect nightmares. Try as one would, it was impossible not to bump
a certain amount over those appalling roads full of holes and cobbles.
It was pathetic when a voice from the interior could be heard asking,
"Is it much farther, Sister?" and knowing how far it was, my heart ached
for them. After all they had been through, one felt they should be
spared every extra bit of pain that was possible. When I in my turn was
in an ambulance, I knew just what it felt like. Sometimes the cases were
so bad we feared they would not even last the journey, and there we were
all alone, and not able to hurry to hospital owing to the other three on
board.

The journey which in the ordinary way, when empty, took fifteen minutes,
under these circumstances lasted anything from three-quarters of an hour
to an hour. "Susan" luckily was an extremely steady 'bus, and in 3rd.
gear on a smooth road there was practically no movement at all. I
remember once on getting to the Casino I called out, "I hope you weren't
bumped too much in there?" and was very cheered when a voice replied,
"It was splendid, Sister, you should have seen us up the line, jolting
all over the place." "Sister," another one called, "will you drive us
when we leave for Blighty?" I said it was a matter of chance, but
whoever did so would be just as careful. "No," said the voice decidedly,
"there couldn't be two like you." (I think he must have been in an Irish
Regiment.)

The relief after the strain of this journey was tremendous; and the joy
of dashing back through the evening air made one feel as if weights had
been taken off and one were flying. It was rather a temptation to test
the speed of one's 'bus against another on these occasions; and "Susan"
seemed positively to take a human interest in the impromptu race, all
the more so as it was forbidden. The return journey was by a different
route from that taken by the laden ambulances so that there was no
danger of a collision.

We usually had about three journeys with wounded; twelve stretcher cases
in all, so that, say the train came in at nine and giving an hour to
each journey there and back, it meant (not counting loading and
unloading) roughly 1 o'clock a.m. or later before we had finished. Then
there were usually the sitting cases to be taken off and the stretcher