“We have been very well on the whole. Of course we are both thinner, for recently rations have had to be reduced very much; we have had no meat for the past fortnight, and not a great deal of anything else. At the same time we have been kept very busy, for the number of wounded has been large; but we were very glad to be fully employed, for it was much better to be working here than to have nothing to do but make bags to hold earth and sand.”
“I can quite understand that. The students were telling me that it was terribly tedious when they had nothing to do. Certainly they were called out to aid the guard at the barriers, when these were heavily attacked, but often two or three days passed without their being summoned.”
“And how are Uncle and Aunt, Rex?” asked Jenny.
“They are both well. They have been besieged just as you were here, and there was very hard fighting. The settlement indeed was very much knocked about, but fortunately, in spite of the severe shelling, hardly any lives were lost.
“We can come out with you now for an hour,” said Jenny, “and then you can tell us all about it, and what prevented the army from coming up to help us.”
The girls put on their hats and the three sallied forth. As they walked about, Rex gave them a graphic account of the fighting at Tientsin.
“And has Ah Lo come up with you, Rex?”
“Certainly he has. I should as soon have thought of coming without a hat as without him. He is a splendid fellow, and I have got so accustomed to his company that I really donʼt know what I should do without him.”
“It is time for us to go back,” Jenny said at last. “We shall be off duty this afternoon at three, and to–morrow or next day we shall leave the hospital, for most of the wounded are convalescent, and unless there is tough fighting the hospital will empty fast, especially now that we can get fresh fruit and meat and other things for the patients.”
Rex returned to the room occupied by the students, and there he found Sandwich waiting for him.