"No. Excitement keeps us keyed up, I guess," he replied. "You know, there is almost always something doing."
"I should say there was!"
She saw that while he talked he did not for a moment forget that he was driving three sorely wounded men. He eased the ambulance over the rough parts of the road and around the sharp turns with infinite skill. It was actually wonderful how smoothly the ambulance ran.
Occasionally they were caught in a tight corner and the machine jounced so that moans of agony were wrung from the lips of the wounded behind them on the stretchers. This, however, occurred but seldom.
Once one of the men begged for water—water to drink and its coolness on his head. They were passing a trickling stream that looked clear and refreshing.
"Let me get out a moment and get him some," begged Ruth.
"Can't do it. Against orders. We're commanded not to taste water from any stream, spring, or well in this sector—let alone give it to the wounded. Nobody knows when the water is poisoned."
"But the Germans have been gone from this district so long now!" she cried.
"They may have their spies here. In fact," grumbled Holdness, "we are sure they do have friends in the sector."
"Oh!"