friends.

Frank was the natural leader of the group. He was a tall, muscular young
fellow, quick to think and quick to act, always at the front in sports
as well as in the more serious events of life.

His father had died some years before, leaving only a modest home as a
legacy, and Frank was the sole support of his mother. The latter had
been born in France, where Mr. Sheldon had married her and brought her
to America.

Later, Mrs. Sheldon's father had died, leaving her a considerable
property in Auvergne, her native province. This estate, however, had
been tied up in a lawsuit, and she had not come into possession of it.
She had been planning to go to France to look after her interests, but
her husband's death and, later on, the breaking out of the European war,
had made this impossible.

She was a charming woman, with all the French sparkle and vivacity, and
she and her son were bound together in ties of the strongest affection.
Naturally her ardent sympathy had been with France in the great war
raging in Europe. But when it became evident that America soon would
take part, although she welcomed the aid this would bring to her native
country, her mother heart was torn with anguish at the thought that her
only son would probably join in the fighting across the sea.

But Frank, though he dreaded the separation, felt that he must join the
Camport regiment that was getting ready to fight the Huns. The deciding
moment came when a German tore down the American flag from a neighbor's
porch. Frank knocked the fellow down and in the presence of an excited