He looked at the bulging entrail admiringly and went back to his work.
In a few minutes he was ready for the next case--a man whose head was
thickly swathed in bandages.

"That's a bit of a change, anyhow--I'm fed up with legs and arms."

The bandages were removed. Amid a mass of tangled, blood-clotted hair
was an irregular patch where a piece of bone had been blown away,
leaving the brain-matter exposed.

The Sister looked at it with eager curiosity and said:

"A _most_ interesting case. I'm _sure_ Captain Maynard would so _love_
to see it! Captain Maynard!"

"One moment, Sister!" He was busy with a delicate knee operation. After
a little delay he came over and inspected the damaged head.

"You've got all the luck," he said. "I haven't had a decent head for
ages. Still, I s'pose we have to put up with these annoyances--horrors
of war, you know!" He laughed and the Sister smiled. Then he went back
to his knee while Captain Wheeler attended to the head.

It must not be supposed that the surgeons, sisters and orderlies of the
----th C.C.S. were particularly cruel and heartless. They were simply
ordinary human beings and the ordinary human being, however he may be
horrified by the first sight of wounds and suffering, soon gets used to
them and accepts them as facts of everyday life.