"It's an amazing suggestion," said Maud, her eyes sparkling.

"Think how greatly it will extend our usefulness," said Beth.

Uncle John was again trotting up and down the room, this time in a
state of barely repressed excitement.

"The very thing!" he cried. "Clever, practical,
and--eh--eh--tremendously interesting. Now, then, listen carefully--all
of you! It's up to you, Jones, to accompany Maud on the night express to
Washington. Get the Red Cross Society to back our scheme and supply us
with proper credentials. The _Arabella_ must be rated as a hospital ship
and our party endorsed as a distinct private branch of the Red
Cross--what they call a 'unit.' I'll give you a letter to our senator
and he will look after our passports and all necessary papers. I--I
helped elect him, you know. And while you're gone it shall be my
business to fit the ship with all the supplies we shall need to promote
our mission of mercy."

"I'll share the expense," proposed the boy.

"No, you won't. You've done enough in furnishing the ship and crew. I'll
attend to the rest."

"And Beth and I will be Uncle John's assistants," said Patsy. "We shall
want heaps of lint and bandages, drugs and liniments and--"

"And, above all, a doctor," advised Ajo. "One of the mates on my yacht,
Kelsey by name, is a half-way physician, having studied medicine in his