Their new quarters proved to be much cooler than the tents. Mosquito bars were hung from the palm-trunk rafters. By the time the nurses were able to crawl under their nets they were so exhausted they missed none of the luxuries of normal life. To be able to stretch out and sleep awhile on a canvas cot seemed luxury enough.
The little area which each nurse’s cot covered was her small kingdom. Her gas mask and helmet hung from the head of the bed when she was not on duty. Her packed musette bag was at the foot. Beneath the cot was her suitcase and other possessions.
The day after they moved into their fresh-air dormitory Nancy found a snake reposing in the cool shadows under her cot. He was the harmless sort, so with a long stick she prodded him until he decided to seek more peaceful quarters on the path leading to the stream.
Next morning Nancy stuck her foot into her shoe to find a lizard had spent the night there. She tossed the inhabited G.I. away with such a screech all her neighbors lifted sleepy heads to see if the Japs had labeled a bomb for her.
Though Nancy made light of the small difficulties of their quarters her heart was often heavy as she anxiously watched and prayed for Vernon Goodwin’s recovery. During the first twenty-four hours after they placed him in the tent it seemed that life would flicker out at any moment. The news got round that Vernon had been one of Tommy Dale’s bomber crew, and the entire staff concentrated their efforts toward his recovery. Lieutenant Herbert York, in charge of his ward, gave him every treatment that modern science had discovered for restoring life to a starved body. To her great satisfaction, they transferred Nancy to his ward.
On the fourth day Vernon showed the first real promise of recovery. An hour after daylight Nancy was scheduled to go off duty, but she didn’t want to leave Vernon. He had roused and his lids had fluttered open several times. To the watching nurse’s delight his look of confusion had vanished.
“Wouldn’t you like something to eat?” she asked hopefully. “Lieutenant York said you could have something this morning.”
He turned his head and looked at her a long time. “You’re an American nurse,” he whispered as if he could scarcely believe the wonderful truth.
She nodded and smiled. Then she took a grip on herself to keep from saying anything that would shock him.
“I suppose I don’t look very much like one in this seersucker suit and with my head tied up. But you’re safe in an American hospital, Vernon, and you’re going to get well,” she assured him.