us screen which ensured them
a temporary relief from fire, were observed suddenly to throw
up their hands, to clutch at their throats, and to fall to the
ground in the agonies of asphyxiation. Many lay where they had
fallen, while their comrades, absolutely helpless against this
diabolical agency, rushed madly out of the mephitic mist and
made for the rear, over-running the lines of trenches behind
them. Many of them never halted until they had reached Ypres,
while others rushed westwards and put the canal between
themselves and the enemy. The Germans, meanwhile, advanced, and
took possession of the successive lines of trenches, tenanted
only by the dead garrisons, whose blackened faces, contorted
figures, and lips fringed with the blood and foam from their
bursting lungs, showed the agonies in which they had died. Some
thousands of stupefied prisoners, eight batteries of French
field-guns, and four British 4.7's, which had been placed in a
wood behind the French position, were the trophies won by this
disgraceful victory.

Under the shattering blow which they had received, a blow
particularly demoralizing to African troops, with their fears
of magic and the unknown, it was impossible to rally them
effectually until the next day. It is to be remembered in
explanation of this disorganization that it was the first
experience of these poison tactics, and that the troops engaged
received the gas in a very much more severe form than our own
men on the right of Langemarck. For a time there was a gap five
miles broad in the front of the position of the Allies, and
there were many hours during which there was no substantial
force between the Germans and Ypres. They wasted their time,
however, in consolidating their ground, and the chance of a
great coup passed forever. They had sold their souls as
soldiers, but the Devil's price was a poor one. Had they had a
corps of cavalry ready, and pushed them through the gap, it
would have been the most dangerous moment of the war.

A deserter had come over from the German side a week before and told
them that cylinders of poison gas had been laid in the front trenches,
but no one believed him or paid any attention to his tale. War was then,
in the Englishman's opinion, a gentleman's game, the royal sport, and
poison was pr