and ordinarily
preceded an attack over the top. One can not shout in a gas mask. But
there was shouting in the hearts of the Sammies as they rushed forward
to do their share in destroying the beast from the earth.

Upward and onward they rushed and then they were in the midst of the
battle. And yet not exactly in the midst, for the actual conflict was
rather of longer distance than that. Hand-to-hand fighting had not yet
occurred. But they advanced, firing as they rushed on, not in close
formation, for that offered too good a target, but separated. They
would fire, rush on, drop to earth, rise again, fire and rush on. And
so it went.

And then, after an hour or two, there came a sudden shift in the
wind. It was presaged by a calm, so that the deadly chlorine gas rose
straight up instead of being blown over the American lines. And then,
with a suddenness that must have been disconcerting to the Huns, the
gas was blown back in their very faces.

Without doubt such fiends as devised that form of fighting were, in
a way, prepared for this, and had their gas masks ready. There were
times, in the early stages of the gas war, when often whole companies
of Germans would be wiped out by a sudden change in the wind, when gas
was being sent over. But the Boches learned from experience.

However, whether or not the return of their own gas worked any havoc
among the Germans it did one good thing; it enabled Jimmy and his
chums, as well as their comrades, to remove their own oppressive
head-coverings, after a certain time had elapsed.

Once they took them off, they sniffed cautiously of the air. There
was none of the choking taint of the chlorine--a gas which seems
to dissolve the lung tissues--the air was sweet and pure--that is,
comparatively so, though it was odorous with powder fumes. But these
were a perfume compared to chlorine.

"Oh, this is better!" cried Jimmy, as he breathed deep and filled his
lungs naturally, for though there is everything to be said in favor
of the gas mask when an attack is on, one can not breathe naturally in
it.

"I should say so!" agreed Bob.

"Well, where do we go from here?" chanted Roger.

Their particular fighting contingent had been halted in a grain field.
All about them, that is up and down such a line as had been formed,
the fighting was going on.

And on either side of them, and in front and behind, there was
the rumble and roar and thunder of heavy guns. In the ranks of the
c