of my companions in front
and mightily glad of it. In a while, still following this invisible
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 I
to whip off my stifling helmet and feel the clean wind in my hair and
the beat of rain upon my face.

"Notice the ticklin' feelin'?" enquired our sub., as he took our
helmets 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 it 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
tophole scheme!" And he showed us a box-like contrivance which, when
in use, is slung round the neck.

"Are you often in the gas?" I enquired.

"Every day--yes, rather!"

"For how long?"

"Well, I stayed in once for five hours on end--"

"Five hours!" I exclaimed, aghast.

"Y'see, I was experimentin'!"

"And didn't you feel any bad effects?"

"Yes, rather! I was simply dyin' for a smoke. Like to try a
lachrymatory?" he enquired, reaching up to a certain dingy box.

"Yes," said I, glancing at K. "Oh, yes, if--"

"Only smart for the time bein'," our sub. assured me. "Make you weep
a bit!" Here from the dingy box he fished a particularly
vicious-looking bomb and fell to poking at it with a screwdriver. I
immediately stepped back. So did K. The Major pulled his moustache
and flicked a chunk of mud from his boot with his whip.

"Er--I suppose that thing's all right?" he enquired.

"Oh, yes, quite all right, sir, quite all right," nodded the sub.,
using the screwdriver as a hammer. "Only wants a little fixin'."

As I watched that deadly thing, for the second time I felt distinctly
unhappy; however, the refractory pin, or whatever it was, being fixed
to his satisfaction, our sub. led the way out of the dingy hut and
going some few paces ahead, paused.

"I'm goin' to give you a liquid-fire bomb first!" said he. "Watch!"

He drew back his hand and hurled the bomb. Almost immediately there
was a shattering report and the air was full of thick, grey smoke and
yellow flame, smoke that rolled heavily along the ground towards us,
flame that burned ever fiercer, fie