The nurse, fearing the American would express in words the contempt and anger his features showed for the man who had committed the cruel act, sprang forward and placed her hand upon the aviator's lips, standing there while Doctor Herschall strode out of the hut.
"Get up on your bed, you little fool!" growled Jacob to Ernest. "Will you never learn to keep your mouth shut?"
But Belinda could not bear to see the boy suffer. She brought warm water and a lotion and succeeded in bathing the cruel-looking welts while Ernest continued to sob into his pillow.
"He does not deserve it, Fräulein," grumbled Jacob; but Sanderson beamed upon her from across the aisle.
An orderly appeared and read at the head of the ward: "Case Thirty-three to report in half an hour at the desk, for transportation to the rear." Jacob got the weeping Ernest up and helped him to dress.
Glancing from the window Belinda saw Carl Baum coming across the enclosure from the direction of the Herr Doktor's lodge—once the office of the kindly médecin chef. Wrung by sudden anxiety the nurse ran out to intercept the corporal.
"Good-morning, Cousin Belinda," was Baum's greeting, his round face asmile. "Does all go well with you?"
"I fear all will soon go ill with me, Carl," she said, unable to disguise her anxiety. "Where have you been?"
"The sly fox Paul sent me on a detail for the Herr Doktor, but told me to report first to him. He wished as usual to take all the credit," and Carl chuckled. "But I am a step ahead of him for once."
"Oh! what did you do?" cried Belinda under her breath.