“With your kind permission, I will now go below for a cup of coffee,” and left them with a bow and a flourish of his cap.  When he had gone Patsy said to Ajo: 

“I don’t believe there is any such person as the blacksmith.”

“Nor I,” was the boy’s reply.  “Both those children are living images of Maurie, who claims the blacksmith was their father.  He’s a crafty little fellow, that chauffeur of ours, and we must look out for him.”

“If he is really a spy,” continued the girl, after a brief period of thought, “I am amazed that he dared join our party and go directly to the front, where he is at any time likely to be recognized.”

“Yes, that is certainly puzzling,” returned Ajo.  “And he’s a brave little man, too, fearless of danger and reckless in exposing himself to shot and shell.  Indeed, our Maurie is something of a mystery and the only thing I fully understand is his objection to Clarette’s society.”

At “le revue matin,” as the girls called the first inspection of the morning, eight of their patients were found sufficiently recovered to be discharged.  Some of these returned to their regiments and others were sent to their homes to await complete recovery.  The hospital ship could accommodate ten more patients, so it was decided to make a trip to Dixmude, where an artillery engagement was raging, with the larger ambulance.

“I think I shall go to-day,” announced Gys, who was wearing his mask.  “Dr. Kelsey can look after the patients and it will do me good to get off the ship.”

Uncle John looked at the doctor seriously.

“There is hard fighting, they say, in the Dixmude district.  The Germans carried the British trenches yesterday, and to-day the Allies will try to retake them.”

“I don’t mind,” returned the doctor, but he shuddered, nevertheless.

“Why don’t you avoid the—­the danger line?” suggested Mr. Merrick.

“A man can’t run away from himself, sir; and perhaps you can understand the fascination I find in taunting the craven spirit within me.”

“No, I can’t understand it.  But suit yourself.”

“I shall drive,” announced Maurie.

“You may be recognized,” said Patsy warningly.

“Clarette will not be at the front, and on the way I shall be driving.  Have you noticed how people scatter at the sound of our gong?”

“The authorities are watching for spies,” asserted Ajo.

Maurie’s face became solemn.

“Yes; of course.  But—­the blacksmith is not here, and,” he added with assurance, “the badge of the Red Cross protects us from false accusations.”

When they had gone Uncle John said thoughtfully to the girls: 

“That remark about the Red Cross impressed me.  If that fellow Maurie is really in danger of being arrested and shot, he has cleverly placed himself in the safest service in the world.  He knows that none of our party is liable to be suspected of evil.”