This news called for such a celebration as the nurses had not had since July Fourth, for their work had lightened somewhat. Planes had taken some of their serious cases back to hospitals in Australia. Even when the wounded were brought in after the final victory there were still some beds unoccupied, so the nurses found a few hours out of every twenty-four to give to personal needs once more, and a bit of recreation.
But Nancy had little heart for amusement during those trying days. She could think of nothing but Vernon Goodwin lying at the point of death, and that Tommy might be alive still, somewhere in that jungle a day’s boat ride to the north.
“Ah, snap out of it, Nancy,” wheedled Mabel, the afternoon before the party when she came upon her pal sitting on her cot, staring into space. “We’ve all decided to put on our whites for the shindig. It will be good for the morale of the patients to see us looking like real nurses for once.”
“We’ll only make ourselves targets for the Zeros that come over.”
“Can’t you realize yet they’ve cleared out those Yellow Jackets! We’ve got something to celebrate over.”
“I’m really tired, Mabel,” said Nancy, stretching out on her cot. “I honestly don’t feel like going up to the mess hall to the party.”
“Oh, but honey, you can’t miss it! I’ll tell you something as an inducement. We have a surprise. Some of the Fuzzy Wuzzies are going to put on a special ceremonial dance—the kind they use to celebrate their own victories.”
These island natives had been most valuable in bringing back the wounded from the fighting front. Ned Holbrook, one of Nancy’s patients, who had a broken back, had been brought out by them on a litter.
“They were as careful with me as any mother,” Ned told her. “They saved my life, Nancy, that’s sure! I never could have stood the jolting of our ambulance over those corduroy roads.”
Nancy had read many articles in the magazines and papers of Australia about the Fuzzy Wuzzies, and the help they had been to the Allies, but she had to see them in action to appreciate their amazing gentleness and value. It seemed incredible that these dark-skinned men, who looked so savage, with their bushy heads, and their bodies naked except for loin cloths, could make such good hospital aides. She had often wondered how they acted in their native villages, and she knew the ceremonial dance would be something to remember always.