at
the Boches did not have them under accurate fire, they suffered nearly
as much mentally, as though the knowledge had been positive.

For an hour or two the terrific artillery duel kept up, the Germans
hoping to blast away all trenches, barbed wire entanglements and sweep
away any opposing forces so that the ground wrested away might be
gained back. And during this time the forces of the defenders of
liberty were, in the main, inactive. There was little to be gained in
rushing the enemy just yet. That time would come later.

And so under a deluge of high explosives, of shrapnel, of trench bombs
and the deadly gas the five Khaki Boys and their comrades in arms
suffered--physically and mentally. For a gas mask is both physical
and mental torture. It is safe, and that is about the best that can
be said for it. Merely to sit quietly with one on is a torture, and to
work or fight in one is about the limit of human endurance.

Still the orders were to keep them on, and they were kept. But more
than once Roger, Franz or Iggy would look around as though for a sight
of some one in authority who would tell them to remove the hideous
head-pieces.

But the Huns still kept sending over the poisonous gas from shells and
from the big cylinders of it they had brought up to the front lines.
And the wind was in their favor, blowing straight toward the American
lines, so that the deadly yellow fumes came over in rolling clouds.

And then, somehow, word came back to the officers in charge of the
big American guns that their shells were having an effect on the Hun
artillery. Piece after piece of the Boche batteries were silenced,
and at last the Sammies began to obtain mastery of the artillery
situation.

And then it was that a barrage could be laid down, and an advance
attack made. But it had to be made under somewhat adverse conditions,
for gas masks must be worn. And to leap from the trench, and stumble
over No Man's Land, under heavy fire, and discharge one's own rifle,
all the while wearing one of the canvas and rubber contraptions, was
not real fighting--at least so Jimmy said afterward.

But such it had to be, and at the signal the five Brothers leaped up
with their comrades and went over the top again--over the top of the
trenches that had either been dug when the new position was taken and
held, or over the top of some of the trenches wrested previously from
the Germans.

There was no shouting and yelling, such as often