Barbara did not enjoy the thought of being shown over the prison. For one thing, she was tired; another, she feared she would find the imprisoned soldiers terribly downcast. She had nursed among them so long she felt a deep sympathy for their misfortunes.

Yet she discovered that the imprisoned soldiers go through about the same variety of moods as men and women engaged in ordinary occupations. They have their sad days and their cheerful days. There are times when the confinement and depression seem unendurable, and others when a letter comes from home with good news. Then one is immediately buoyed up.

It was now between four and five o'clock on a summer's afternoon.

Barbara and Dr. Mason went through the prison hastily. There was nothing[Pg 111] interesting in the sight of the ugly, over-crowded rooms; but fortunately at this hour most of the men were out of doors.

So, as soon as they were allowed, the two Americans gladly followed the German commandant out into the fresh air. They had not been permitted to talk to the prisoners and Dr. Mason had made no such effort. It was merely through the courtesy of the German commandant that the American physician and nurse were given the privilege of visiting the ill prisoners. Therefore, Dr. Mason considered it a part of his duty not to break any of the prison rules.

But Barbara, being a woman, had no such proper respect for authority. Whenever the others were not looking she had frequently managed to speak a few words.

But she breathed better when they were again outdoors. It had been hot and sultry inside the prison, but now a breeze was blowing, stirring the leaves of the solitary tree in the prison yard to a gentle murmuring.

Underneath this tree was a group of a[Pg 112] dozen or more soldiers. Some of them were smoking cherished pipes, while others were reading letters, yellow and dirty from frequent handling.

The International Red Cross had done its best to secure humane treatment for all the war prisoners in Europe. For this purpose there is a Bureau of Prisoners, having its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. They have sent forth a petition to the various governments at war, asking among other things that prisoners be allowed to receive money, letters and packages from their friends. These last must of course be carefully censored, and yet they keep life from growing unendurably dull. Think of long weeks and months going past with never a line from the outside world!

Barbara studied the faces of the imprisoned men closely. With all her experiences as a war nurse it chanced she had never before seen any number of prisoners. Now and then a few of them had passed her, being marched along the Belgian roads to the measure of the German goose step.

[Pg 113]

Now she managed to bow to the men resting under the tree and they returned her greeting in the friendliest fashion. Every Red Cross nurse is a soldier's friend. Yet in the character of an ordinary girl Barbara would have been almost as cordially received. She looked so natural and so human. Somehow one recalled once again the vision of "the girl one had left behind."

But Barbara was not to linger inside the prison yard. As the day was nearing its close the men who had been working in the fields were to return. The German commandant wished Dr. Mason to see how well his prisoners looked.

Surrounding the prison was a high stone wall. In the rear of this yard was a wide gate which could be swung back on hinges, allowing a half dozen men to be herded through at the same time.

So Dr. Mason and Barbara were escorted outside the prison wall and given chairs to await the marching past of the soldiers.

Barbara sat down gratefully enough. But when five or ten minutes passed and[Pg 114] nothing happened she found herself growing bored. Dr. Mason could not talk to her. The German officer was discoursing so earnestly in his own language that it was plain the American physician had to devote all his energies to the effort to understand him.

So by and by, when neither of the men was observing her, Barbara got up and strolled a few paces away. There was little to see except the stretch of much-traveled road. The fields where the prisoners were at work were more than a mile away.

But the girl's attention was arrested by an unmistakable sound. It was the noise of the imprisoned soldiers being marched back to their jail. The tread was slow and dead, without animation or life. It was as if the men had been engaged in tasks in which they had little concern and were being returned to a place they hated.

Barbara stood close to the edge of the road along which the men must pass. She was naturally not thinking of herself. So it had not occurred to her that the soldiers might be surprised by her unexpected appearance.

[Pg 115]

She was frowning and her blue eyes were wide open with excitement. She had left her nurse's coat thrown over the back of her chair. So she wore her American Red Cross uniform, whose white and crimson made a spot of bright color in the late afternoon's light.

A young French soldier in the first line of prisoners chanced to catch Barbara's eye. She smiled at him, half wistful and half friendly. Instantly the young fellow's hand went up to his cap, as he offered her the salute a soldier pays his superior officer.

T............