We have a cook, a chambermaid,--one of the _poilus_ who is quartered here, too, and who earns a few sous on the side by serving us,--also a French lieutenant who is really the head of the Section, a _maréchal de logis_, and a few other French retainers. They sleep in the same loft with us. Every night they chatter very late and kid each other about the fish they caught or did not catch during the day in the river. They laugh and giggle at each other just like kids. They are awfully amusing. All the _poilus_ who are _en repos_ fish, although there are only minnows around here. I asked several to-day how many they caught, and they said they were only fishing to pass the time. I guess it's a great diversion, for they all do it. They all bathe, too, every day. We go in with them, the mules and the horses; probably somewhere else the _Boches_ are bathing in the same river. Such is life, but we are extremely lucky to get a chance to wash at all and I'm afraid when we move from here, for we shall soon be moved to _poste_ duty, we shan't have the comforts such as are found here. I mentioned _poste_ work in the last paragraph. There are two kinds of work for ambulances--evacuating and _poste de secours_ work. The former consists in removing the _blessés_ from the back hospitals to points where they are put on the trains. The _poste de secours_ work is going up to the point where the _blessés_ are dragged from the trenches and carrying them back to the above-mentioned hospitals. Of course, the _poste_ work is the liveliest and the most dangerous. We shall be sent up to do that within a week or so, as they shift about: several months of _poste_ work and then several months of evacuating. The Section had done its turn at _poste de secours_ before I joined it; it has also been evacuating from here quite a while, so we shall no doubt be sent out nearer the front pretty soon. That's what we are here for. We are not a great distance from the lines now; in fact, shells have come over us and landed right across the road, but when we move, it will mean the most dangerous of work, for the roads are full of shell holes, no doubt, and wild shells get loose now and then. I'll write you again soon, but now I'm going to bed,--that is, roll up in my blankets on my stretcher, for there is an early call for to-morrow morning. Early call means getting your machine over to the château at six o'clock, all ready for the day's work. It's great fun and I am awfully glad to be here. Moreover, there is a satisfaction to realize that you are helping. The French are very appreciative, from the _poilu_ up to the highest officers. Oh! I forgot to mention, in describing our billet, that flies and mosquitos are abundant. We all have mosquito nets which we put over our heads in the evening, making us all look like the proverbial huckleberry pie on the railroad restaurant counter. The _poilus_ around us have adopted our methods,