PAGE I. Emergency 11 II. Hurdles 23 III. Suspects 35 IV. The Gas Chamber 47 V. Official Notice 57 VI. Camouflage 65 VII. Letters 79 VIII. Port of Embarkation 91 IX. Alert 101 X. Embarkation 110 XI. At Sea 119 XII. A Dream 131 XIII. Tommy’s Bombardier 145 XIV. Bruce’s Report 158 XV. Parting 168 XVI. Beach Landing 178 XVII. The Gunner’s Story 192 XVIII. A Test 205 XIX. Adrift 216 XX. The Plane 228 XXI. Rescued 238 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: _Nancy Waved to the Middle-Aged Couple_] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nancy Dale ARMY NURSE CHAPTER ONE EMERGENCY Nancy stood on the steps of the train and waved at a misty-eyed couple, a man and woman of middle years. Strange how she could be so close to tears, yet so buoyantly happy all in the same moment. The train began to move slowly and Nancy called back, “Be sure to forward all Tommy’s letters, Mom!” Her mother nodded and smiled, while her father lifted his hat in that courtly way he had. Nancy could scarcely believe that at last she was on her way to becoming a member of the great Army Nurse Corps. In fact she was one now, for she had already taken her oath of allegiance. This slowly moving train marked the beginning of a wonderful journey that might take her anywhere in the whole world—Africa, Italy, India, the Arctic or the South Pacific. She had been praying ever since she joined that it would be the South Pacific, not only because her brother was there flying a bomber over the tropical blue waters, but because the tropics had always seemed fascinating. But little did she dream what she must go through before she saw again that beloved couple she had just left.