 Merrrick's money and the girls' enthusiasm work wonders; by the end of September the "Arabella", painted with large red crosses, is in Dunkirk.Among their staff is a talented surgeon, Doctor Gys.He is "an eccentric, a character...erratic and whimsical," an adventurer who has been from the Arctic to the Yucatán, and in the process has been badly disfigured by various hard-luck accidents (involving icebergs and poisoned cacti).