As neither Mabel nor Tini had ever been camping, they had their initiation that night in sleeping under mosquito nets.
“Gosh, feels like a prison in here!” exclaimed Mabel.
“A prison you’ll be glad to stay in,” Nancy informed her, “when you hear how those mosquitoes sing outside it.”
Long before day, however, each of the nurses was rolled in a blanket under her net and the discouraged pests had returned to their swamp muck.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: _The Nurses Washed Their Clothes in the River_]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the days that followed the nurses discovered what it meant to do all their bathing and clothes washing in the shallows along the river shore. With only a compass to guide them, they learned to cut their way through the dense undergrowth of the river swamp. More than one rattler had to be killed in the process. But many others they left alone, as they had been given careful instructions about poisonous snakes and insects in various parts of the world. They crossed streams and lagoons in high boots, and several times ate from their mess kits the food they prepared for themselves on all-day hikes.
All nursing work was suspended while they were put through these physical fitness tests. To Nancy’s amazement, Tini Hoffman stood hers along with the others, for she seemed to understand its significance. Tini became another person when there were no men around on whom to turn her charms.
They had been camping on the river shore only three days when at breakfast one morning they were given orders to be prepared to leave by noon.
“I’m surely ready to go,” said Tini, who sat next to Nancy on the long bench at the table. “It’s been an eternity since we had any mail.”
They seemed so remote from civilization here that it seemed ages to Nancy also since she had heard what was going on in the rest of the world. But their high hopes proved premature as they were not yet scheduled for city lights.
Lieutenant Hauser gave the orders. “Every group is to take down its own tent, roll and pack it, according to previous instructions.”
Buzzing with talk and excitement the nurses scattered to their various quarters. Nancy had left her washing on a bush over night, so snatched it up as she hurried back to begin packing. Ten minutes before twelve all tents had been cleared to the last tent peg, and the nurses began to pack their belongings into the trucks in which they had arrived. It was thrilling and exciting business, for none of the trainees knew where the next stop would be.