A FELINE GAS ALARM

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3171, 23 August 1917, Page 7

A FELINE GAS ALARM

AMBULANCE DUG-OUT'S EXPERT ..'-. v .. SNIPPER. Norman JLee, an eighteen-year-old American. almbulancior with the PrencS Porces in,the West, was awarded recently the Croix de Guerre. Ho tells of the life of the ambulance men on the French front.

Ifs'2 a.m.—l have just'returned from a' trip and it's a good time to write. While I attempt this two men are busily engaged in piling up trench torpedoes just outside of the "dug : out." . I call it a.dug-out—in Teality it's only a. cellarbut it' serves its purpose—keeps the

"eclats" from hitting you—of course, a direct hit would ..be a different thing. Tho Boches dropped a few gas shells over about midnight.- Have you ever heard .a rattlesnake? Well! a gas shell has the same effect. No ono has to tell you what it is, you know. It just goes "put" and lets out a, greenish vapour. That's enough—down, in the "dug-out"—put on your masks, and wait until the Boches are finished. But it's a ghastly scene, one candle burning, and everyone sitting around with masks on—tho cat hugs tho fire while "James," tho medicine dog, has his mask on too—it's a special one—and ho knows enough not to paw it off. He's a real war dog. During these sessions, there is always an official, "sniffer" appointed who has to take off his mask, every once in a while, go to the door, and see if the stuff is still around. The other day wo wero in doubt, so we throw the cat out. She came' back so quickly that no ono had any doubt that it still was there. .