“A gas attack! A gas attack!” was the cry which rent the air. “On with your masks, boys!”
Dave heard the cry, and immediately tried to make a move to get hold of his mask and adjust it. But the tree branch held him down in such a fashion that this was impossible. Roger was more fortunate, and even though his legs were held down he managed to twist his body over on one side and get his mask into position.
“Can you make it, Dave?” questioned Phil, who now had his mask ready to slip on.
“No. I can’t straighten up enough,” answered our hero.
“I’ll see if I can’t get the limb out of the way,” went on Phil; and then called to Ben and Shadow, who, fortunately, were as free as himself to move about, to assist him.
The three slipped on their masks, and then under the directions of Phil went to work to raise the branch that was holding Dave down. By their united efforts they managed to get it up just enough to enable our hero to crawl from under. As soon as this was accomplished Dave lost no time in putting on his mask.
Even with the united efforts of the four young engineers, it was impossible to raise the limb which held down Roger’s legs. So two axes were brought forward, and while some held up the limb so that it might not injure the fallen one’s legs, Dave and Phil chopped the branch almost through, so that it was then cast aside with ease and the senator’s son was able to stand up.
By this time all the other engineers had gotten word concerning the mishap and were flocking to that vicinity to aid their comrades. Three men were still under the wreckage, and it was not without great difficulty that these were released. One poor fellow had his shoulder badly bruised and had to be sent to the hospital.
Shadow had one hand much scratched, and both of his shins scraped, and he, too, had to be sent to the rear to receive medical attention.
Long before the rescues came to an end the gas was on the engineers. It rolled toward them in a thin yellowish cloud. But fortunately the wind was coming up strongly, and this soon dissipated the gas so that it did little damage.