“Oh!” the girl murmured, her fare becoming whiter and more white. “Oh—Harry!”
Then she would have fallen from the seat, only Tom leaped forward and caught her in his arms.
And while efforts were being made to restore the girl to consciousness, may I not take this opportunity of telling my new readers something of the previous books of this series, so that they may read this one more intelligently?
Torn Raymond and Jack Parmly, as related in the initial volume, “Air Service Boys Flying for France; or The Young Heroes of the Lafayette Escadrille,” were Virginians. Soon after the great world conflict started, they burned with a desire to fight on the side of freedom, and it was as aviators that they desired to help.
Accordingly they went to an aviation school in Virginia, under the auspices of the Government, and there learned the rudiments of flying. Tom's father had invented an aeroplane stabilizer, but, as told in the story, the plans and other papers had been stolen by a German spy.
Tom and his chum resolved to get possession of the documents, and they kept up the search after they reached France and were made members of the Lafayette Escadrille. It was in France that they met Adolph Tuessing, the German spy.
The second volume, entitled “Air Service Boys Over the Enemy's Lines; or The German Spy's Secret,” takes the two young men through further adventures. They had become acquainted on the steamer with a girl named Bessie Gleason and her mother. Carl Potzfeldt, a German sailing under false colors, claimed to be a friend of Bessie and her mother, but Jack, who was more than casually interested in the girl, was suspicious of this man. And his suspicions proved correct, for Potzfeldt had planned a daring trick.
After some strenuous happenings, in which the Air Service Boys assisted,
Bessie and her mother were rescued from the clutches of Potzfeldt,
and went to Paris, Mrs. Gleason engaging in Red Cross work, and Bessie
helping her as best she could.
Immediately preceding this present volume is the third, called “Air
Service Boys Over the Rhine; or Fighting Above the Clouds.”
By this time the United States had entered the great war on the side of humanity and democracy.
Then the world was startled by the news that a great German cannon was firing on Paris seventy miles away, and consternation reigned for a time. Tom and Jack had a hand in silencing the great gun, for it was they who discovered where it was hidden. Also in the third volume is related how Tom's father, who had disappeared, was found again.