which they were bound.

A month before the three had been in the Balkans. There the two lads,
together with Anthony Stubbs, had gone through many dangerous adventures,
finally reaching Greek soil in the nick of time, with a horde of
Bulgarians just behind them. With them had been others--Ivan, a Cossack,
a third British officer and a young girl. Ivan had elected to join the
Anglo-French forces at Salonika; the other British officer had found his
own regiment there and the girl, whom it had been the good fortune of the
boys to save from the Bulgarians, found friends in the Greek city who had
taken her in charge.

Hal, Chester and Stubbs had embarked on a French battleship, homeward
bound. After due time they landed in Marseilles.

"Now," said Chester, when he once more felt French soil under his feet,
"I suppose the thing for us to do is to return to the Italian lines and
see if we can learn anything of Uncle John, then return to Rome and to
New York."

Uncle John was the brother of Chester's mother. All had been bound for
home when Hal and Chester had become involved in a matter that took them
forward with the Italian troops. Uncle John had been along to keep them
out of mischief, if he could. He hadn't succeeded and had fallen into the
hands of the Austrians. The boys had saved him. Later they had been
forced to seek refuge in the Balkans, having found it impossible to get
back into the Italian lines, and they had lost Uncle John. Their arrival
in Marseilles had really been the first step toward a return to Rome,
where they intended to try and find their mothers.