noon
The worthy doctor was wrought up to a high pitch of excitement ; he exclaimed , as he went downstairs , that he would rather cut off one of his own legs than continue working in that unsatisfactory , slovenly way , without a tithe of either the assistants or the appliances that he ought to have . Below in the ambulance , indeed , they no longer knew where to bestow the cases that were brought them , and had been obliged to have recourse to the lawn , where they laid them on the grass . There were already two long rows of them , exposed beneath the shrieking shells , filling the air with their dismal plaints while waiting for his ministrations . The number of cases brought in since noon exceeded four hundred , and in response to Bouroche 's repeated appeals for assistance he had been sent one young doctor from the city . Good as was his will , he was unequal to the task ; he probed , sliced , sawed , sewed like a man frantic , and was reduced to despair to see his work continually accumulating before him . Gilberte , satiated with sights of horror , unable longer to endure the sad spectacle of blood and tears , remained upstairs with her uncle , the colonel , leaving to Mme. Delaherche the care of moistening fevered lips and wiping the cold sweat from the brow of the dying . Rapidly climbing the stairs to his terrace , Delaherche endeavored to form some idea for himself of how matters stood .