sand. Then had
followed that splendid summer at Pine Island, when the girls had
accidentally discovered a gypsy cave and had succeeded not only in
rounding up the band of gypsies but in recovering several valuable
articles that had been stolen from them. The four boys who were now
facing the enemy in France had shared in their fun that summer, pitching
camp near the bungalow of the girls.

Their next adventure found the girls and boys again at Pine Island, but
under greatly altered circumstances. America had just entered the great
war, and the four boys had responded eagerly to the bugle call. Later
they were sent to Camp Liberty for training, to which the girls soon
followed them to work in the Hostess House.

Will Ford, the brother of Grace, had caused the girls, and especially
his sister, anxiety and uneasiness because of his failure to enlist with
the other boys. In the end he justified himself, however, by delivering
a German spy to justice and enlisting in the service of his country
immediately afterward. The girls also recovered some valuable jewelry
that the spy had stolen from them.

Then in the volume directly preceding this, entitled "The Outdoor Girls
at the Hostess House," the girls had befriended an old woman who had
been knocked down by an unscrupulous motorcyclist. They later learned
the secret tragedy in the life of their little old lady.

Now the girls had come home to Deepdale for a much needed rest, only to
be confronted with the terrible, though, naturally, expected, news that
the boys had been ordered to the front.

"Yes they may be, probably are, facing death at this minute," said
Mollie slowly, finishing the broken sentence. "Perhaps at the very
minute we were playing and singing and enjoying ourselves--"

"Mollie, don't!" cried Amy brokenly. "I don't feel as if I could ever
enjoy myself again."

"Well, we've got to, whether we can or not," said Betty, striving to
control her quivering lips and tilting her little chin at a brave angle.
"We can't just lie down at the very first shot, you know."

"You talk as if we were on the firing line," said Grace hysterically.

"I suppose in a way we are," returned the Little Captain slowly, wishing
desperately that those troublesome tears would stay where they
belonged--her eyes were so misty she could hardly see Grace! "Only ours
is a harder kind of battle, because it's made up mostly of waiting and
working without any of the thrill and excitement