“Germany threatens Russia!” they yelled.  “War sure!”

Mr. Grenfel brought a paper, and the scouts gathered about him while he read the news that was contained on the front page, still damp from the press.

“I’m afraid it’s true,” he said, soberly.  “The German Emperor has threatened to go to war with Russia, unless the Czar stops mobilizing his troops at once.  We shall know tonight.  But I think it means war!  God save England may still keep out of it!”

For that night a meeting at Mr. Grenfel’s home in West Kensington had long been planned.  He lived not far from the street in which both Harry and Dick lived.  And, as the party broke up, on the other side of Putney Bridge, Dick, voicing the general feeling, asked a question.

“Are we to come tonight, sir?” he said.  “With this news —­ ?”

“Yes —­ yes, indeed,” said the scoutmaster.  “If war is to come, there is all the more reason for us to be together.  England may need all of us yet.”

Dick had asked the question because, like all the others, he felt something that was in the air.  He was sobered by the news, although, like the rest, he did not yet fully understand it.  But they all felt that there had been a change.  As they looked about at the familiar sight about them they wondered if, a year from then, everything would still be the same.  War?  What did it mean to them, to England?

“I wonder if my father will go to war!” Dick broke out suddenly, as he and Harry walked along.

“I hadn’t thought of that!” said Harry, startled.  “Oh, Dick, I’m sorry!  Still, I suppose he’ll go, if his country needs him!”

CHAPTER II

QUICK WORK

At home, Harry had an early dinner with his father and mother, who were going to the theatre.  They lived in a comfortable house, which Mr. Fleming had taken on a five-year lease when they came to England to live.  It was one of a row of houses that looked very much alike, which, itself, was one of four sides of a square.  In the centre of the square was a park-like space, a garden, really.  In this garden were several tennis courts, with plenty of space, also, for nurses and children.  There are many such squares in London, and they help to make the British capital a delightful place in which to live.

As he went in, Harry saw a lot of the younger men who lived in the square playing tennis.  It was still broad daylight, although, at home, dusk would have fallen.  But this was England at the end of July and the beginning of August, and the light of day would hold until ten o’clock or thereabout.  That was one of the things that had helped to reconcile Harry to living in England.  He loved the long evenings and the chance they gave to get plenty of sport and exercise after school hours.

The school that he and Dick attended was not far away; they went to it each day.  A great many of the boys boarded at the school, but there were plenty who, like Dick and Harry, did not.  But school was over now, for the time.  The summer holidays had just begun.