A RED CROSS NURSE
HALF an hour later, and just as Tom was growing desperate, his
companions in the flying unit having one and all laughingly refused to
help him out of his predicament by acting as "nurse maid," as they
called it, Jack showed up again.
"Got the old bus safe in its shed all right," he told his chum, nodding
cheerily to Jeanne, who greeted his coming with a smile. "Now to hit the
grub pile and then to see if we can get off for a short time! Got to
make some arrangement for Jeanne tonight, you know, Tom!"
"You do," assented the other, "but I'm out of it." Then Tom told his
chum of his own assignment to special duty. "I'm off now, but don't
forget to give Nellie my best regards."
"I sure will, Tom," answered Jack.
With that he hurried away to learn if anything worth eating had been
left after the ferocious charge, not of the Light Brigade, but a pack
of hungry Yankees whose capacity for storing away food seemed unbounded.
Jack either had scanty pickings, or else he tempted an attack of
dyspepsia by bolting his food, for inside of ten minutes he was around
again. Tom, who had not yet got away on his mission, looked surprised.
"Cleaned out, were they, at the chuck-wagon?" he asked.
"Well, Erastus told me that he had had a most unusual run on his outfit
this evening, and so I just took a bite in a hurry. You know, if I feel
like it I can stop in at the Red Triangle hut on the way to the field
hospital and buy some chocolate. Then if I run across any Salvation Army
girls it's possible they'll have a few of their doughnuts left over.
That would be a great treat to Jeanne."
"I reckon either of them would," remarked Tom thoughtfully. "If her
folks have been back of the Boche lines all these four years they must
have lived on short rations. Here, Jack, I insist on standing for half
of all the expense. Take this silver and call on me for any amount as
you may need it. I won't listen to a refusal, understand."
Jack had been about to decline absolutely, but on second thought he
accepted the loose change.
"Fact is, Jeanne will need some things most likely, for you can see how
miserable her shoes are, while her clothes look mighty seedy. Now,
Nellie, we both happen to know, is a clever hand at such things, and
she'll be only too glad to take charge of Jeanne's wardrobe. So I'll
accept your offer. Anyway, we've always shared alike in everything, as
equal partners should."
"Yes, even to that licking I once got when you were caught under Amos
Grimes' peach tree hunting for the ball I knocked over the fence. He
vowed you were after his fruit, and started to give you a taste of the
switch he carried."
"Yes," broke in Jack, chuckling. "And you, meaning to explain, came over
the fence, only to get a taste of the same switch. I always did believe
he divided the honors equally between us, and that you got some of the
stripes he'd intended for me. Come, Jeanne, we'll be going now."
"But how about your leaving the camp here without orders, Jack? I was
going to ask for this leave when my assignment to duty came; so I did
not ask."
"Oh, I met Captain Desmond on the way to the chuck-wagon and explained
things to him, so he gave me permission to be gone up to midnight."
"And you'll use it up to the last minute, I warrant," laughed Tom,
actually kissing, in the renewed courage Jack's return gave him, the red
lips of the little French girl, who already seemed to look upon these
two tall young Americans as friends raised up by a special Providence to
help her. He then hurried away.
Jack took Jeanne's hand in his and they walked along. Much comment was
caused on his being thus seen by many of the other airmen in the camp
adjoining the field of the khaki-colored hangars. Jack took it all in
his customary happy-go-lucky way and sent back as good as he received.
When they came to the dugout that was serving as a temporary refuge for
the Red Triangle workers, the hut of refreshment such as the Y. M. C. A.
girls and men were in the habit of putting up, often close back of the
firing line, Jack took his little charge in with him.
Jeanne's pretty face and bewitching ways immediately won the hearts of
the girls in khaki who were doing war work. They clustered about the
pair, and asked many questions; but as Jack was in somewhat of a hurry
he could answer them only in a general way.
"She's lost her mother, and her twin sister was carried away by a Boche
general who is some relation, though he hates the family. My chum and I
mean to provide for little Jeanne. I'm taking her now to a girl friend
who is a Red Cross nurse in the field hospital."
He hurriedly made his purchases, and they went on, Jeanne eagerly
devouring part of a cake of chocolate, though she also persisted in
clinging to Jack's hand. Somehow it made the boy feel much older when he
felt that confiding little hand in his. It seemed as though new
responsibilities had been suddenly thrust upon him.
The approach of night had put an end to most of the clamor that made day
seem so hideous. Only occasionally did a Big Bertha in the far distance
growl menacingly, to be followed by the crash of a mighty shell
somewhere within a mile or two of the spot where Jack and his charge
walked along through the forest.
He was stopped and challenged frequently, but having the countersign,
had no difficulty in passing the sentries. Many campfires twinkled under
the trees, near and far, where tired doughboys were resting and
doubtless exchanging stories of the day's exciting achievements; or
talking of home--what Broadway looked like, or Fourth Street, or Canal
Street; what the result of the world series of baseball games, a pet
subject of dispute among these brawny followers of the national sport.
"Getting tired, are you, Jeanne?" asked Jack presently, noticing that
the child dragged her little feet at times, despite all efforts to show
a brave front.
Without waiting for an answer Jack scooped her up in his arms, and
persisted in carrying her the rest of the way. Before they reached the
field hospital poor little tired Jeanne was fast asleep, snuggled in
those protecting arms, and as Jack looked down on her baby face, seen in
the first lights he came to, he renewed his vow to stand by the orphan
through thick and thin.
But here was the long low shed hastily put together, and fashioned so
that it could be taken down and moved farther along to the new front
every few days. Through the opening he glimpsed figures in white,
bearing the symbolic Red Cross on headpiece and left arm, moving about
among the white cots, attending to the wounded soldiers.
It was not long before Jack discovered the particular nurse for whom he
was looking. Nellie Leroy may have seemed young for such duties, but
what she lacked in age she more than made up for by her wonderful skill.
Indeed the head surgeon many times declared that the girl was a born
nurse; and when there was a particularly interesting case to be attended
he made it a point to see that the patient was placed in Nellie's ward.
So Jack and his burden appeared before Nellie. She of course looked very
much surprised to see him, but the smile on her pretty face told Jack
his coming was most welcome to Harry's sister. Nellie thought a great
deal of Tom Raymond but she liked Jack also.
"Put the child on this empty cot, and then tell me all about her," said
Nellie. "Who is she and how do you come to be bringing her here? I hope
it isn't because the poor baby has been injured; though those Boches
seem to be equal to anything that is cruel and terrible."
"I'll be only too glad to explain everything, Nellie," Jack said, after
he had done as she told him, and watched, perhaps half enviously, while
the tender-hearted nurse bent over and kissed sleeping Jeanne on her
forehead. "Can you spare a little time just now? The story isn't going
to be very long; although I'm in no hurry to get back."
"It happens that we're through much sooner than usual tonight," she
assured him. "And besides, I'll ask Mollie King to look after my
patients, as hers were mostly taken south in the last detachment of
ambulances bound for the base hospitals. Here, sit down on this bench,
Jack, and I'll be back in a minute. But first, how is Tom?"
On the young nurse's return Jack told his story in detail. Nellie
listened with deep interest. She would have been better satisfied if
modest Jack had only been more enlightening with regard to his thrilling
engagement with the Hun fliers; but then she knew his failings did not
lie in the field of boasting, and so she had to picture those incidents
for herself.
Jack was more inclined to go into details when Jeanne came into the
story.
"Here's the paper that was in the gold locket, Nellie," he told her.
"Read it for yourself. You can get the meaning of the French a heap
better than I ever could. It'll make the tears come in your eyes though,
when you picture that poor woman dying there, one child carried off by
that villain of a relative, and the other about to be cast adrift on a
world at war."
"How dreadful it all is, Jack!" said the nurse, after she had finished
reading the crumpled bit of paper that held such a tragic story. "Now
tell me why you have brought little Jeanne to me?"
"Because, Nellie," said Jack, "Tom and I knew we could depend on your
warm heart to manage somehow or other. She's got to have shoes and
clothes, and then be placed in the charge of some decent person until
Tom and I can come and claim her, after we chase these Boches back over
the Rhine, and the war is over. Bessie and her mother have left Paris
for a while and are in Nice, too far away for me to send Jeanne to them.
We--Tom and I--did not know another girl or woman to turn to, so I have
come to you."
Nellie bent her head in deep thought, while Jack waited anxiously.
Presently she looked up and smiled into his eager face.
"I'll manage it all right, Jack, leave it to me," she told him. "I may
have to keep her with me for a day or two, though a field hospital is a
dreadful place for a child to stay in. When I've found a way to get her
the necessities she must have I'll make sure she is placed with some
good people who for a consideration will care for her."
"Fine, Nellie! But then it's no more than I expected from you!" Jack
told her, in a low tone. "There's another thing I want to explain. Tom
and I have money enough, you know, and we've made up a purse to carry
our ward along for some time. Take these French notes, and make any
arrangement you see fit with the person in whose care you leave her.
There's plenty more cash where this came from."
"But Jack, I'd like to share with you two generous boys in this kind
deed of yours," protested Nellie. "I have means, too, and wouldn't miss
anything we might plan to contribute between us."
"Ah, you'll be doing the hardest part as it is, Nellie," he told her,
and then on second thought, realizing that such an arrangement might
afford him and Tom many an excuse for seeing Nellie as well as Jeanne,
he added: "But I'll talk it over with Tom, and if he's willing we might
let you come into the partnership arrangement. Isn't she a little
darling, though? I'm speaking of Jeanne now."
After that they found much to talk about, and it was quite late when
Jack finally got up to go. Jeanne was still sound asleep.
"I'll get her into bed presently, when I've looked after several of my
more seriously wounded patients," Nellie assured him. "And when you come
again perhaps I'll have made a start on her wardrobe; though I imagine
it's going to be a serious job to collect anything here. But some of the
nurses will be only too glad to help. When shall I see you again, Jack?"
"Oh! Me? Why, I'll try to get around to-morrow night, if they'll give me
permission. Tom, too, I hope. Of course there'll be heaps we must talk
over. This thing of being guardian to a real flesh-and-blood child is a
serious business. So I'll say good-night. Kiss little Jeanne for me, and
I'll try not to forget one of your messages to Tom. Now, good-bye."