Yet Jones declared that Maurie doubtless knew the country better than anyone they had yet met and the doctor likewise defended his patient.

Indeed, Gys seemed to have taken quite a fancy to the little man and long after the others had retired for the night he sat on deck talking with the Belgian and getting his views of the war.
"You say you had land at Ghent ?" he once asked.
"It is true, Doctor." "But afterward you said Brussels." Maurie was not at all confused.
"Ah; I may have done so.

You see, I traded my property." "And, if I am not mistaken, you spoke of a home at Liege." Maurie looked at him reproachfully.
"Is there not much land in Belgium ?" he demanded; "and is a rich man confined to one home?
Liege was my summer home; in the winter I removed to Antwerp." "You said Ghent." "Ghent it was, Doctor.

Misfortune has dulled my brain.

I am not the man I was," he added with a sigh.
"Nevertheless," said Gys, "you still possess the qualities of a good waiter.