one outside our unit, or give out any information about the tests you’re going through.”

“You mean we can’t even write our friends about what we’ve been doing on this trip?” asked Mabel.

“Certainly not! Too many times spies have deduced from the nature of a group’s training what its overseas destination might be.”

A surprised murmur swept over the semicircle of young women sitting on the carpet of brown pine needles. Nancy wondered about the letters Tini had written every day while they were in camp. She herself had written long descriptions of their camping life to her parents, but she realized now those letters she had been hoping to mail would have to be torn up.

But Miss Hauser was continuing, “This period is a try-out for actual overseas duty. We must conform to all restrictions we would have there.”

“Overseas duty!” Those were the magic words they had long wanted to hear. They brought a joyous outburst from the eager nurses, that ended in clapping.

“Aren’t we the lucky blokes!” exclaimed Mabel.

“And say, it looks as though it’s going to be in the tropics,” Nancy whispered.

When they rose to go back to the trucks Tini began to complain. “It’s utterly silly not letting us tell anything about what we’ve been doing in the swamp.”

“Ah, gee, who minds that?” asked Mabel. “After all, we agreed to submit ourselves to this rigorous training.”

“Of course we did,” said Nancy. “I’m sure they have good reasons for all these restrictions. You can never tell what spies may make of the smallest bit of information that may leak out.”

When they were rolling along again in their trucks, Nancy recalled how Tini had spent all her spare time back on the river shore, writing letters. Every night she had pushed her cot close to the lantern and sat under her mosquito bar to finish her writing. With her usual lack of consideration for others she kept the light burning till the tent swarmed with mosquitoes, moths and other insects.

“I bet she’ll try to mail those letters in spite of what Lieutenant Hauser said,” Nancy thought with disgust.

For the next twenty-four hours, however, there was no time to dwell on her tent mate’s tendency to insubordination. The 

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