“But you have to!” stated Nancy. “The hardest test is yet to come.”
“I can’t! I just can’t!” wailed Shorty, her cheeks wet with tears that had not all been caused by the stinging gas.
“If you don’t go through it you’ll never get overseas,” Nancy warned her.
“I don’t see why they put us through all this misery,” wailed Shorty. “We know how to put on gas masks in case there’s any trouble over yonder. No sense in torturing ourselves like this when we may never have to put ’em on again.”
Nancy caught Shorty by the shoulders and shook her slightly. “Now you cut out that kind of talk, or they’ll not let you go down under with us.”
“Come on,” warned Mabel. “It’s our turn again.”
Nancy caught Shorty’s hand. “Come on, honey,” she said in a wheedling tone. “We’ll go through together.”
Nancy, herself, had really dreaded this final ordeal, but having to bolster Shorty’s confidence left her little thought for her own fears. She shoved her little friend through the door saying, “Now, put on the mask—quick!”
Shorty already had her mask over her face when Nancy followed through the door. In spite of their speed their trembling hands fumbled a bit before the masks could be put into place, and so they felt a bit of stinging. When they were securely masked, however, Nancy urged the excited girl toward the back door.
“It wasn’t so bad after all, was it?” asked Nancy, after she jerked her mask off and filled her lungs with fresh air.