Page:Lieutenant and Others (1915) by Sapper.djvu/65

 is the general? I have been sent to give him a message.” With a dreadful tearing noise in his throat, he started to try to be sick. The paroxysm lasted about five minutes, and then he pulled himself together again.

“Give me the message. I’ll take it,” said Gerald quietly.

“Listen,” said the officer, sitting down and heaving backwards and forwards. “Listen, for I’m done in. They’ve broken through on our left. There aren’t many of them, but our left has had to give.” Another paroxysm came on, and the poor lad rolled in the gutter, twisting and squirming. “The gas caught me in my dug-out,” he croaked, “and I couldn’t find my pad. Just like me, always lose everything.” Gerald supported his head, and again wiped the froth from his mouth. “Our men,” and the wheezing voice continued at intervals, “our men are gassed to blazes, but they’re all up there. They’ve not fallen back except on the left, where they were up in the air. Poor chaps! Lying in heaps being sick. Noise in trenches like bellows out of work. It’s a swine’s game, this gas.” Again the tearing and gasping.