"The Guns of Europe" is the first of three connected romances, of which "The Forest of Swords" and "The Hosts of the Air" are to be respectively the second and third, dealing with the world war in Europe.

It was the singular fortune of the author to be present at the beginning of this, the most gigantic struggle in the history of our globe. He was in Vienna the day Austria-Hungary declared war upon Servia, thus setting the torch that lighted the general conflagration. Returning westward, he reached Munich the day Germany declared war upon Russia. He remained in Germany nearly a month, having witnessed in turn the Austrian and German mobilizations, and then arrived in England in time to see the gathering of the British Empire's armed hosts.

He was also, upon his return, in Quebec when the greatest colony of the British was rallying to their support. Such an experience at such an extraordinary crisis makes ineffaceable impressions, and through his characters, the author has striven his best to reproduce them in these three romances.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. THE SISTINE MADONNA
CHAPTER II. THE THUNDERBOLT
CHAPTER III. THE REFUGE
CHAPTER IV. THE THRILLING ESCAPE
CHAPTER V. THE FIGHT IN THE BLUE
CHAPTER VI. ABOVE THE STORM
CHAPTER VII. THE ZEPPELIN
CHAPTER VIII. THE FRENCH DEFENSE
CHAPTER IX. THE RIDE OF THREE
CHAPTER X. THE DRAGONS OF THE AIR
CHAPTER XI. THE ARMORED CAR
CHAPTER XII. THE ABANDONED CHÂTEAU
CHAPTER XIII. ON THE ROOF
CHAPTER XIV. THE GERMAN HOST
CHAPTER XV. THE GIANT GUN

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"Their careering machine made but a single target while they could fire into the pursuing mass."

"A second shot came presently from the forty-two centimeter."

"Overhead the aeroplanes swooped lower and lower, like gigantic birds."

"A vast red whirlwind in which the faces of men shone and steel glittered."