"We're comparatively safe here anyway," said Leon. "That is some consolation, though I'd just about as soon be fighting."
"We're safe unless a shell happens to—" began Jacques, when he was suddenly cut short.
There was a violent jar; the steering wheel was torn from Jacques' grasp; the big ambulance rocked crazily and then pitched forward. The three boys were thrown headlong from their seats.
Earl looked about him. He was in a long room with high ceilings and his surroundings seemed very unfamiliar to him. He was lying flat on his back and he tried to rise; a heavy weight seemed to hold him down and he felt a dull pain in his leg. He discovered that he was lying in a bed.
He turned his head to one side and spied another bed; in fact the room was filled with them. He was in a hospital, but how had he been wounded? He had no recollection of it. Every bed had an occupant; Earl looked the other way and the same sight met his eye. In the bed to his left, much to his amazement, he discovered Jacques. So he too was wounded. How had it all happened? Suddenly he remembered the ambulance and the violent jar they had received; that must have been it.
A white-clad nurse approached his bed.
"Are you comfortable?" she inquired gently.
"Yes," said Earl, "but how did I get here? What happened?"
"You and your brother and your friend were in an ambulance and ran into a shell hole. You were all thrown out and your leg was broken."