She lifted the bedclothes back from the foot of the bed and surveyed
my bandaged feet for a minute or two. Then with a sudden air of
determination she bent down and, catching my right foot by the big toe,
lifted it deftly off the pillow on which it was resting. I gave one
piercing scream which woke the whole ward and brought the night-sister
running in. For the rest of the night I lay with one eye peeping over
the sheet prepared to yell for help at the top of my voice if the young
lady assistant came near my bed. The next day she returned to England
for further instruction.
The following afternoon I was operated on and the bullet extracted from
my ankle. A sergeant brought it me wrapped in cotton-wool and left me
feeling quite reassured about the success of the operation....
I remember very well on the way up to the Front seeing a hospital
ship leave one of the base ports. She was a beautiful looking vessel,
painted white, with a great red cross painted on either side amidships.
That hospital ship certainly looked comfortable, and I don't mind
admitting that, at the time, I wished most heartily I was on board her
with my job done instead of having to go up to the firing-line and do
it. The wounded men on board all looked so happy and comfortable.
However, everything comes to him who waits--nothing more quickly
than a bullet in these sanguinary days--and after a week at the base
hospital at Boulogne I was given a ticket marked "cot case" and told
I was going to be put on board a hospital ship for England. I smiled
gratefully at the doctor, tied the ticket round my neck, put on a
woollen waistcoat, muffler, and dressing-gown (all presented to me
by the hospital) over my pyjamas, and waited my turn to be carried
downstairs. In due course, with three others, I was taken in a motor
ambulance to the ship, and from thenceforward was in the charge of the
naval authorities.
We were carried up the gangway on our stretchers and placed on a sort
of luggage lift which in the twinkling of an eye transported us below,
where we were lifted on to swinging cots arranged in a large saloon.
The quick, handy way in which everything was done was typical of the
Navy, and having once spent six weeks on board a battleship, I felt
quite at home again. Dinner was brought round soon after getting on
board, and I ate soup, fish, roast mutton, and apple tart with the
heartiest of appetites. Unfortunately, also, in the happiness of the
moment, I drank a large bottle of Bass which seriously affected my
slumbers during the night.
We did not leave until the following night, arriving at Plymouth at
nine o'clock the next morning. However, it was no hardship to be aboard
the hospital ship.