"We are not to be killed so easily, sir," replied Hal Paine.

"And where have you been?" demanded the General.

"In Russia, sir," replied Chester Crawford, "where we were attached to a
Cossack regiment, and where we saw considerable fighting."

General French uttered an exclamation of astonishment.

"How did you get there?" he asked. "And how did you return?"

"Airship," was Hal's brief response, and he related their adventures
since they had last seen their commander.

Hal then tendered the General a despatch he carried from the Grand Duke
Nicholas, commander-in-chief of all the Russian armies operating against
the Germans in the eastern theater of war.

"You shall serve on my staff," said General French finally.

He summoned another officer and ordered that quarters be prepared for the
two lads immediately.

And while the two boys are getting themselves comfortably fixed it will
be a good time to introduce the lads to such readers as have not made
their acquaintance before.

Hal Paine and Chester Crawford, two American lads, their ages being about
18 and 19, had seen considerable service in the great European war--the
greatest war of all time. They had been in Berlin when Germany had