“With nightfall the troops of both sides backed away to their own trenches.  Jean’s work, however, was not yet done.  He remained out on the field where lay men who would never rise again, and many more who were suffering and dying.  All night long he worked with them, until nearly daybreak, by which time the stretcher bearers had finished their work.

“When day dawned his comrades found little Jean asleep on top of the parapet of his own trench, with a storm of machine gun fire sweeping over him.  He was sleeping in a rain of steel.  They hauled him in and tucked him away in a dugout.

“Jean might have slept the day through had not a shell blown up the dugout and literally blown the boy over the lip with it.  He was considerably bruised and shocked, but otherwise was unhurt.

“By the time he had collected his wits and got the dizziness out of his head, his comrades were once more going over the top.

“‘I must go,’ was Jean’s reply when an officer sought to hold him back.

“Gathering up all the canteens he could carry, Jean filled them with water and was over the top and out on the storm-swept field.  His eyes glowed with admiration when he saw his lieutenant leading and encouraging the men of his company.  Jean tried to keep close to him, but this was not wholly possible, for the lad was still performing his work of mercy.

“Suddenly he saw the lieutenant stagger and fall.

“With a little cry Jean sprang up from the wounded man he was working over and ran to the side of his friend.

“‘Where—­where is it, my dear Lieutenant?’ he begged anxiously.

“’Two times they hit me, child—­in the shoulder and in the side.  It is bad.  But never mind, lad, go to the others; they need you more than do I.’

“‘No, you shall come with me.  Let me get my back to yours.’

“‘You cannot carry me.’

“‘Jean is stronger than he looks.’  With that the lad got the officer to a sitting position and, placing his back against the lieutenant’s, his arms under those of the officer, he straightened up.  Of course, he was not strong enough to carry the man, but he was able to drag him, and with almost as much comfort to the wounded one as if he were on a stretcher.

“In this manner Jean managed to get his friend to the trench, whence the officer was taken to a first-aid station, then later in the day placed in an ambulance and started for a hospital in the rear.

“The road over which they were carried, for Jean had remained with lieutenant Andre, was shell swept, the Germans knowing very well that ambulances with wounded men were there.

“To the hospital went the two, and there, side by side, they lay in cots, for at last Jean had been struck and wounded by a shell that wrecked the ambulance just before they had reached their destination.  The driver was killed but the Little Soldier of Mercy and his friend escaped, with only a shaking up for the lieutenant and a slight wound in the leg of Jean.