completely
immune, breathing a purified atmosphere.

The soldiers are now marched up to this chamber of horrors to walk
through the poison gas. Many have "the wind up" (i. e., they are
afraid inside, but are ashamed to show it). Reliance on the guide, the
expert who has been through it all, and the sense of companionship, the
stronger ones unconsciously strengthening the weak, have a steadying
effect upon all the men. The soldiers have had four hours' drill to
prepare them, but the "padre" and I, who are now permitted to go
through, have had but four minutes. I am trying to remember a number
of things all at once. Above all I must keep cool and assure myself
that there is no danger if only I trust and obey what the expert has
said. I fling on the helmet and we start into the death chamber, but
suddenly a string is loose--will the respirator work? There seems to
be something the matter with my nosepiece which should be clamped shut.
I would like to ask the instructor just one question to make sure, but
I can no more talk than a diver beneath the sea. It is too late, we
are moving, I can only hope and trust the helmet will hold. We have
left the sunlight and are in a long dark covered chamber, like a
trench, groping forward, and looking at a distant point of light
through the dim goggles. We are alone in these deadly fumes, the
instructor is not here, there is a tense silence, and all about us is
the poison of death. Oh, what was that fourth point that I was to
remember? Why has the guide turned back? I thought we were to go out
at the further end, where last week the poor fellow fell who lifted his
helmet a moment too soon after he got out and caught one whiff which
sent him to the hospital, but instead we seem to be turning around and
going back. But there is no time for explanations or questions now; we
just plod on through the darkness and soon we are out in the sunlight
again--safe!--in God's pure air. Oh, why did man ever want to pollute
it and poison his brother with these deadly fumes of hell!

As a special favor, the instructor allows us, without a mask, to take
one swift look into the fumes as we hold our breath. That yellow green
chlorine will corrode the lungs and fill them with pus and blood. The
phosgene is much more deadly and will strike the man down with sudden
failure of the heart.

We were also sent through a chamber of the invisible "tear gas,"
without a mask. The object of this is