Enough, too, to make the abri look pretty good to us—n'est-ce pas, Messieurs Rice, Batten and Vincent?"

The Americans appealed to agreed, though all seemed to regard the matter as of little importance. Constant association with danger and thrills had long before accustomed them to the strain.

In another moment Don and Dunstan were following the others into the shelter.

 CHAPTER IV

UNDERGROUND

The abri was quite a pretentious-looking little place. Over the arching entrance was layer upon layer of sand-bags, and on top of these the earth had been packed into a hard, solid mass, thus affording a good protection from the enemy's fire. The shelter, which was situated only a few hundred yards from the front, also served as a poste de secours,[4] three French army surgeons always being in attendance. Still nearer to No Man's Land, in fact almost directly on the battle-line, and, of course, shielded as well as possible, was a "Refuge des blessés," or dressing station, where the brancardiers, or stretcher bearers, conveyed the wounded for first aid treatment.

The duties of the brancardiers were of the most perilous nature. Frequently the men were obliged to crawl out of the trenches after the fallen soldiers, and then, once burdened with the victims of the great war, their movements were so restricted that it became all the more difficult for them to protect themselves. The soldier may have his reward in fame and glory and wear the hero's crown; the brancardier has little but that which comes from his own conscience.

The wounded were brought in from the first-line trenches through connecting trenches, called in French boyaux, to the poste de secours and the waiting Red Cross cars. The brancards—stretchers—are all of the same size, so that they may be used in any ambulance or railway car. It sometimes happens that a "couchée," which means a lying-down case, generally one of a serious nature, reaches a base hospital on the same stretcher on which he was placed after being picked up on the battle-field.

During the early part of the war the wounded were often obliged to wait a long time before being removed, and it was generally in a slowly-moving horse-drawn vehicle. The advent of the Red Cross and the American Field Ambulance was the means of bringing about a wonderful change. The light cars of the sections could travel fast, 

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