“But it’s not too early to begin making plans for the peace,” he retorted promptly.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
PARTING
The nurses made quite a festive occasion out of the Fourth of July. Although it was midwinter, Northern Australia was close enough to the equator for the weather to be like midsummer at home. Nancy as chairman of the program committee, started weeks ahead trying to collect flags and bunting to decorate the wards. Miss Anna Darien and the Red Cross workers back in Sydney sent her boxes that were real gold mines for her purpose.
Their hospital was not far from a camp of negro soldiers from the states. These colored men were primarily employed in pushing convoys through northern Australia. Nancy, knowing how beautifully some of them sang, suggested that Major Reed invite a group over to entertain the wounded on their American holiday.
Nancy feared rain might spoil their program, which was to be outdoors, but she took chances on having the bandstand arranged in the middle of the street within view of most of the buildings. Though they had sloshed through enough rain to float a transport the last weeks, the sky actually cleared a few hours before time for their program.
For a change the nurses all donned their white uniforms, and in spite of the heat the medical officers put on coats and ties. The convalescents, still in pajamas, were supplied with benches around the bandstand. Everyone seemed excited at the prospect of a little diversion.
“Say, but you look like an angel in that white uniform,” Bruce exclaimed when he saw Nancy.
He could walk almost erect now, without bending to the pain in his side. He had been given new clothes, which he wore for the first time that day, and Nancy thought him even more handsome than ever in his lieutenant’s uniform.
“You’re not bad-looking yourself,” she told him.