Produced by Al Haines [Frontispiece: "'Tis the bist uv exercise, throwin' thim things is." Page 133] Army Boys in France OR From Training Camp to Trenches BY HOMER RANDALL _Author of "Army Boys in the French Trenches" and "Army Boys on the Firing Line"_ THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO. CLEVELAND, O. ------ NEW YORK, N. Y. Made in U. S. A. COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY PRESS OF THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO. CLEVELAND Made in U. S. A. ARMY BOYS IN FRANCE CONTENTS CHAPTER I--The Bugle Calls II--A Remorseless Enemy III--The Gathering Storm IV--War V--A Vandal Punished VI--The Die Is Cast VII--For Love of Country VIII--Off to Camp IX--A New Life X--Instruments of Death XI--Nick Rabig Turns Up XII--For France XIII--The Lurking Peril XIV--The War-Swept Land XV--Within the Sound of Guns XVI--The Airship Raid XVII--The Baptism of Fire XVIII--A Grim Reality XIX--Nick Rabig Under Arrest XX--A Rattling Bout XXI--Paying a Debt XXII--A Promise of Help XXIII--Facing the Hun XXIV--In No Man's Land XXV--A Gallant Exploit ARMY BOYS IN FRANCE CHAPTER I THE BUGLE CALLS "Looks like war, fellows!" exclaimed Frank Sheldon, as, on a cold March morning he came briskly into the business house where he was employed, and slipped off his overcoat. "Oh, I don't know," responded Bart Raymond, Frank's special chum. "It's looked like war ever since the _Lusitania_ was sunk, but we haven't got our fighting clothes on yet. The American eagle keeps on cooing like a dove." "He's waking up now though," asserted Frank confidently, "and pretty soon he'll begin to scream. And when he does there'll be trouble for the Kaiser." "He isn't worrying much about us," put in Tom Bradford. "He figures that his U-boats will do the trick long before we get ready to fight. Sometimes I think he's pretty nearly right too. They're sinking ships right and left. They got three of them yesterday, and one was a liner of more than ten thousand tons." "That's bad," agreed Frank. "But the worst thing about it is that one of the three was an American ship. As long as they sank only French and English vessels, it might be said that it was none of our business, although it has always seemed to me a cruel and cowardly way of fighting. But when they get after Uncle Sam's boats it's time for us to get busy." "Johnny get your gun! get your gun!" chanted "Reddy," the irrepressible office boy. "What's the use of talking," said Bart disgustedly. "They'll cook up some excuse about not knowing that it was an American ship, and we'll swallow the excuse and pretend to believe it. One lie more or less is nothing to a nation that calls a treaty a scrap of paper."