Hal Paine and Chester Crawford crouched low in a shell hole in No Man's Land. All morning they had been there and the day had worn on now into the afternoon.Two hundred yards west of their refuge were the American lines. Sprinters such as Hal and Chester could easily have covered the distance in half a minute; and it was not for want of courage that so far they had failed to make the effort. It was plain common sense that kept them in their present position.On all sides of them—between the American lines and the most advanced German positions less than two hundred yards from the spot where the opening of this story finds the two boys—the ground was dotted with shell holes similar to the ones in which Hal and Chester found themselves.

As World War I draws to a close, two young American officers engage in a series of missions which deal crippling blows to the German enemy.

Hal and Chester undertake the delivery of a message advancing the allied cause to Grand Duke Nicholas, who is leading Russian armies against the Germans, and subsequently serve with the Russian army.

Hal and Chester undertake a number of missions in Europe just after the Americans enter World War I.

Two young officers serving in the American Expeditionary Forces are involved in several dangerous missions on both sides of the Western front during the final days of World War I.