War Series, of which "The Forest of Swords" and "The Guns of Europe"
were the predecessors. It deals primarily with the love story of John
Scott and Julie Lannes, but all the characters of the earlier books
reappear in this romance also.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE TRENCH 1
II. THE YOUNG AUSTRIAN 25
III. JULIE'S COMING 45
IV. THE HOTEL AT CHASTEL 70
V. THE REGISTER 87
VI. JOHN'S RESOLVE 108
VII. THE PURSUIT 128
VIII. INTO GERMANY 160
IX. THE GREAT CASTLE 179
X. THE FAIR CAPTIVE 200
XI. THE EFFICIENT HOSTLER 225
XII. THE HUNTING LODGE 248
XIII. THE DANGEROUS FLIGHT 278
XIV. THE HAPPY ESCAPE 299

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING
PAGE

The Hosts of the Air, Frontispiece

"Once they came to the very edge of the trench to be slain there" 28

"'You! You! Is it really you?' she cried" 260

"Now the aeroplanes flew at almost incredible speed,
the _Arrow_ always at their head", 332

CHAPTER I

THE TRENCH

A young man was shaving. His feet rested upon a broad plank embedded in
mud, and the tiny glass in which he saw himself hung upon a wall of raw,
reeking earth. A sky, somber and leaden, arched above him, and now and
then flakes of snow fell in the sodden trench, but John Scott went on
placidly with his task.

The face that looked back at him had been changed greatly in the last
six months. The smoothness of early youth was gone--for the time--and
serious lines showed about the mouth and eyes. His cheeks were thinner
and there was a slight sinking at the temples, telling of great
privations, and of dangers endured. But the features were much stronger.
The six months had been in effect six years. The boy of Dresden had
become the man of the trenches.

He finished, rubbed his hand over his face to satisfy himself that the
last trace of young beard and mustache was gone, put away his shaving
materials in a little niche that he had dug with his own hands in the
wall of the trench, and turned to the Englishman.

"Am I all right, Carstairs?" he asked.

"You do very well. The