the estate. But legal difficulties had developed in regard to the
will, and Frank's parents were contemplating a trip to France to
straighten matters out, when the war broke out and made it impossible.
Mr. Sheldon had died shortly afterward, leaving but a slender income
for his widow. Frank had become her chief support. She was a
charming, lovable woman, and she and her son were very fond of each
other.

Frank had secured a good position with the firm of Moore & Thomas, a
prosperous hardware house in Camport, and his prospects for the future
were bright when the war broke out. But he was intensely patriotic,
and wanted to volunteer as soon as it became certain that America would
enter the conflict. For a time he held back on account of his mother,
but an insult to the flag by a German, whom Frank promptly knocked down
and compelled to apologize, decided his mother to put no obstacles in
the way of his enlisting.

But Frank was not the only ardent patriot in the employ of Moore &
Thomas. Almost all of the force wanted to go, including even Reddy the
office boy, who although too young, was full of ardor for Uncle Sam.
Chief among the volunteers were Bart Raymond, Frank's special chum and
a fine type of young American, and Tom Bradford, loyal to the core.
Poor Tom, however, was rejected on account of his teeth, but was
afterward accepted in the draft, and by a stroke of luck rejoined Frank
and Bart at Camp Boone, where they had been sent for training. Another
friend of all three was Billy Waldon, who had been a member of the
Thirty-seventh regiment before the boys had joined it. The four were
the closest kind of friends and stuck by each other through thick and
thin.

There had been one notable exception to the loyalty of the office
force. This was Nick Rabig, a surly, bullying sort of fellow, who had
been foreman of the shipping department. He was a special enemy of
Frank, whom he cordially hated, and the two had been more than once at
the point of blows. Rabig was of German descent, although born in this
country, and before the war began he had been loud in his praise of
Germany and in "knocks" at America. His chagrin may be imagined when
he found himself caught in the draft net and sent to Camp Boone with
the rest of the Camport contingent.

How the Army Boys were trained to be soldiers both at home and later in
France; their adventures with submarines on the way over; how Rabig got
what he deserved at