转眼间已是十二月，天空中飘着小雪。阿尔伯尔中尉已经康复，可以借助拐杖缓慢地行走了。法国军官通知约翰叔叔次日十点前将阿尔伯尔送至军队监狱。晚饭后，莫里突然出现在大家面前，声称法国官员要立刻见到卡格船长。当卡格深夜归来时，却发现阿尔伯尔早已消失得无影无踪了……
There was considerable excitement when the ambulance returned.Part of the roof had been torn away，the doors were gone，the interior wrecked and not a panea of glass remained in the sides；yet Ajo drove it to the dock，the motor working as smoothly as ever，and half a dozen wounded were helped out and put into the launch to be taken aboard the hospital ship.
When all were on deck，young Jones briefly explained what had happened.A shell had struck the ambulance，which had been left in the rear，but without injuring the motor in any way.Fortunately no one was near at the time.When they returned they cleared away the rubbish to make room for a few wounded men and then started back to the city.
Doctor Gys，hatless and coatless，his hair awryb andthe mask making him look more hideousc than ever，returned with the party and came creeping up the ship's ladder in so nervous a condition that his trembling knees fairly knocked together.
The group around Ajo watched him silently.
"What do you think that fool did？"asked the boy，as Gys slunkd away to his room.
"Tell us，"pleadede Patsy，who was one of the curiousgroup surrounding him.
"We had gone near to where a machine gun was planted，to pick up a fallen soldier，when without warning the Germans charged the gun.Maurie and I made a run for life，but Gys stood stock still，facing the enemy.A man at the gun reeled and fell，just then，and with a hail of bullets flying around him the doctor coolly walked up and bent over him.The sightso amazed the Germans that they actually stopped fighting and waited for him.Perhaps it was the Red Cross on the doctor's arm that influenced them，but imagine a body of soldiers inthe heat of a charge suddenly stopping because of one man！""Well，what happened？"asked Mr.Merrick.
"I couldn't see very well，for a battery that supported the charge was shellinga the retreating Allies and just then our ambulance was hit.But Maurie says he watched the scene and that when Gys attempted to lift the wounded man up he suddenly turned weak as water.The Germans had captured the gun，by this time，and their officer himself hoisted the injured man upon the doctor's shoulders and attended him to our ambulance.When I saw the fight was over I hastened to help Gys，who staggered so weakly that he would have dropped his man a dozen times on the way had not the Germans held him up.They were laughing，as if the whole thing was a joke，when crack！came a volley of bullets and with a great shout back rushed the French and Belgians in a counter—charge.I admit I ducked，crawling under the ambulance，and the Germans were so surprised that they beat a quick retreat.
"And now it was that Gys made a fool of himself.He tore off his cap and coat，which bore the Red Cross emblem，and leaped right between the two lines.Here were the Germans，firing as they retreated，and the Allies firing as they charged，and right in the center of the fray stood Gys.The man ought to have been shot to pieces，but nothing touched him until a Frenchman knocked him over because he was in the way of the rush.It was the most reckless，suicidal act I ever heard of！"Uncle John looked worried.He had never told any of them of Dr.Gys'strange remark during their first interview，but he had not forgotten it."I'll be happier when I can shake off this horrible envelope of disfigurement，"the doctor had declared，and in view of this the report of that day's adventure gave the kind—hearted gentleman a severe shock.
He walked the deck thoughtfully while the girls hurried below to look after the new patients who had been brought，not too comfortably，in the damaged ambulance."It was a bad fight，"Ajo had reported，"and the wounded were thick，but we could only bring a few of them.Before we left the field，however，an English ambulance and two French ones arrived，and that gave us an opportunity to get away.Indeed，I was so unnerved by the dangers we had miraculously escapedthat I was glad to be out of it."Uncle John tried hard to understand Doctor Gys，but the man's strange，abnormal nature was incomprehensible.When，half an hour later，Mr.Merrick went below，he foundthe doctor in the operating room，cool and steady of nerve and dressing wounds in his best professional manner.
Upon examination the next morning the large ambulance was found to be so badly damaged that it had to be taken to a repair shop in the city to undergo reconstruction.It would take several weeks to put it in shape，declared the French mechanics，so the Americans would be forced to get along with the smaller vehicle.Jones and Dr.Kelsey made regular trips with this，but the fighting had suddenly lulleda and for several days no new patients were brought to the ship，although many were given first aid in the trenches for slight wounds.
So the colony aboard the Arabella grew gradually less，until on the twenty—sixth of November the girls found they had but two patients to care for—Elbl and Andrew Denton.Neither required much nursing，and Denton's young wife insisted on taking full charge of him.But while the hospital ship was not in demand at this time there were casualties day by day in the trenches，where the armies faced each other doggedlyb and watchfullyc and shots were frequently interchanged when a soldier carelessly exposed his person to the enemy.So the girls took turns going with the ambulance，and Uncle John made no protest because so little danger attended these journeys.
Each day，while one of the American girls rode to thefront，the other two would visit the city hospitals and render whatever assistance they could to the regular nurses.Gys sometimes accompanied them and sometimes went to the front with the ambulance；but he never caused his friends anxiety on these trips，because he could not endanger his life，owing to the cessationa of fighting.