Page:The Story of Aunt Becky's Army-Life .djvu/141

Rh He said quickly, "Did you go on board?" "Certainly," I replied, and very angrily he asked if I had not received orders to the contrary.

"Only verbal ones, which will hardly stand law," I answered defiantly, and passed on, leaving him doubtless revolving the problem of woman's perverseness and obduracy.

I never found resistance from the guards—and red-tape I could endure only as it was sewn on to the white ground-work with many stars, and floated in the free air of heaven.

It was an awful suspense for us who waited for the long, ghastly procession of men to be brought in, and we knew what shapeless, gaping wounds would open their bloody lips under our hands. The days were intensely hot, and I volunteered to help make the chicken broth with which we were to feed the wounded as they were brought from the battle-field.

Our cook-stove was in the open air, and no shelter over us. I wore a black hat, not considering the consequence, and soon, as I began my work over the heated stove, and under the broiling sun, I grew blind and staggered speechless away, and remained in a senseless stupor for some hours. When returning consciousness dawned upon me, vague fears and hopes shaped themselves in my mind, with the variety and rapidity of a kaleidoscope.

With the good care given me by Dr. Hays and the nurses, I was able the next day to be about; but, on the recurring hour of noon each day, for many weeks, I was blind for some moments.