The Washington herald., 1917-08-27

You might explain something about
1t. IL you will," suggested the major.
Bombs and gas is your line, you
know"
The sub beamed again and. giving
certain directions to his sergeant.
spoke something on this wise:
''weil. Frightful Fritzs-I mean the
Boches. y'know-started bein' fright
full quite some time ago. y'know-
playin' their little tricks with gas an
tear-shells an liquid fire an that.
and we left 'em to 1t. Y'see, II wasn't
cricket-wasn't playin' the game
what But Fritz kept at it and was
happy as a bird till one day we woke
UP an started bein' frightful, too;
only when we did begin. we were
| frightfuller than ever Fritz thought of
bein'-yes, ratheri Our gas is more
deadly, our lachrymatory shells are
more iachrymose. an our liquid fire Is
quite top-hole-won't go out till It
burns out-rather no. So Frightful
Fritz is licked at his own dirty game.
I've | ". tried d his, and I've tried ours. an
Here the sergeant murmured defer
entially into the subs ear. whereupon
he beamed yet again and nodded.
'Everything's quite ready" he an
nounced. so IL you're on?"
After a momentary hesitation sig
, nified was. whereupon our sub grew
immensely busy testing sundry ugly
gray flannel gas helmets fitted with
staring eye-pieces of tale and with q
hideous snout in front.
Gas Mask Test.
things and buttoned them well under
our coat collars. having shown US how
We must breathe out through the
| mouthpiece. which acts as kind of
exhaust. our sub donned his own head
piece. through which his cherry voice
reached me in muffled tones:
You'll feel kind of ticklin' feelin'
in the throat at first, but that's all o.
K.-only the chemical the fiannel's
saturated with. Now follow me please.
an would you mind runnin'?-th
rains apt to weaken the solution.
This way"
! Dutifully We FASTENED after him,
! plowing through the wet sand until
We came to a heavily timbered door
way that seemingly opened into the
hillside, and beyond this yawning
doorway I saw a thick. greenish-yel-
low mist, a fog exactly the color
OF strong absinthe; and then we were
in It. ks tall figure grew blurred,
indistinct. faded utterly away, and
was alone amid that awful, swirling
vapor that held death in such agoniz-
ing form.
l will confess I was not happy; my
throat was tickling provokingly, l
began to cough, and my windpipe
felt too small l FASTENED forward.
but, even as 1 went. the light grew
DINNER and the swirling fog more
dense. groped blindly. began to
run, stumbled, and in that moment
my hand came in contact with an
unseen rope. On / went into gloom,
into blaekness, until L was presently
aware of my companions in front and
nightly glad OF it.
In a while. still following this in
visible rope, We turned a corner, the
fog grew less Opaque, thinned away
! to a green mist, and we were out in
the daylight again, and thankful was
|. to wipe OF my sitting helmet and
feel the clean wind in my hair and
the beat of the rain upon my face.
Notice the ticklin' feelin'?" in
! quired our sub as he took our he'll
NETS and put them carefully by. Bit
tryin' at first, but you soon get used
to it-yes, rather Some of the men
funk tryin' at first-and some hold
their breath until they fairly well
burst, an some won't go in at all, so
we carry 'em in. That gas you've
tried is about twenty times stronger
than we get 1t in the open, but these
helmets are a rippin' dodge-till the
chemical evaporates; then OF course
they're no earthly. This is the latest
device-quite a top-hole scheme!"
ExpIodes Gas Bomb.
And he showed US a box-like con-
trivance which. when in use, is slung
around the neck.
Are you often in the gas?" in
quired.
Every day. yes, rather!"
For how long?"
Five hours" exclaimed aghast.
well, 1 stayed in once for five
hours on end"
"Y'see, was experimentin.'
"And didn't you feel any bad ef-
fects?"
"sYes, rather! I was simply dyin'
for a smoke. Like to try a lachry-
matory?" he inquired, reaching up to
certain dingy box.
Yes said ]. glancing at K.
"Oh. yes, Of
only smart for the time bein',"
our sub assured me. Make you weep
a bitr' Here from the dingy box
he fished a particularly vicious-look-
ing bomb and fell to poking 1t with
the screw driver. Immediately
stepped back. So did X The Major
pulled his mustaehe and flicked a
chunk of mud from his boot with
his whip.
"Er-I suppose the thing is all
right?" he inquired.
"Oh. yes, quite all risht sir, quite
all right" nodded the sub, using the
screw as a hammer. only wants
a little fixing"
AS watched that deadly thing.
for the second time / felt distinctly
unhappy; however, the refractory pm
or whatever 1t was, being fixed to his
satisfaction, our sub led the way out
Of the dingy hut, and going some
few PAGES ahead, paused.
'T'm going to give you a nquia
fire bomb, firsti" said he. "Watcn!
He drew back his hand and hurled
the bomb. Almost Immediately there
was a shattering report and the ar
was full of thick gray smoke and
yellow flame, smoke that rolled heavily
along the ground towards US, name
that burned ever, fiery yellow tongues
that leaped from the sand here ana
there, that writhed IN the wind-gusts'
but never diminished.
"stoop down. cried the SUB, SUIT
ing the action to the word. Stoop
down and get a mouthful OF thaI
smoke-makes you jolly sick and un-
conscious in no time IL you get enough
of II. Top-hole bomb, that-what!
Then he brought US where those
yellow flames leaped and Kissed; some
of these he covered with wet sand
"a Ini they had ceased to be; but