death, gazed at one another as they lined up in the trench. That is
they were silent as regards conversation, for they could not talk
with their gas masks on, and the warning given by the lieutenant--the
warning and the admonition to stand fast--had been the last words he
uttered before he, too, donned the protecting device. And no sooner
had the five Brothers and those about them begun to breathe through
the chemicals that destroyed the terrible chlorine, than over it came
rolling in a deadly, yellowish cloud.

And yet it was far from silent in that hideous storm, for the very
ground shook and trembled with the intensity of the gun-fire--the
gun-fire not only of the Germans but the Allies as well.

It was an attack in force, and the fire was of the fiercest. Protected
somewhat by the trench, in which they were, nevertheless the members
of the company to which our heroes belonged sustained several
casualties.

At one place a high explosive shell struck on the very edge of the
trench, caving it in, and burying beneath tons of earth and stone the
unfortunate Sammies stationed there. And the worst of it was that no
adequate revenge could be taken just then--at least no revenge that
was visible to the enraged comrades of the killed and wounded.

For the orders were to stay in the trenches and repel the attack at
first. Later the counter-attack on the part of the Americans would
take place, and then it might be that the Huns would be made to pay
dearly for their work.

Jimmy looked through the grotesque goggles of his gas mask at his