This volume is offered the reader as a collection of chapters which treat of subjects that are closely allied to the great war in Europe which burst forth like an earthquake in 1914. Each one of the several topics has a place in the list of vital themes in an eventful epoch. The treatment is written in a narrative style, not technical, but quite fully conversational. In connection with a number of the chapters are stanzas of verses written especially for this book. In narrating many facts in regard to spies and scouts, the writer introduces the leading places visited in an eventful trip abroad. In the third chapter, entitled My Introduction to Spydom, is the beginning of the list of chapters which recite the details of the object and work of spies. It must not be assumed that the writer condemns spies as workers of evil and iniquity. While these secret agents sometimes are false and detestable, sometimes vile and traitorous, they frequently do good and are the means of bringing about results by methods that operate quickly and in the end save life and property from destruction. Perhaps, in the wiser economy of war, it is impossible wholly to dispense with systems of espionage. The treatment in this book is from an American standpoint. It is the result of touring as a student and writer in twelve countries of Europe. The possibility of giving so much detail in regard to espionage is due to no mean ability to mingle freely with different nationalities and to converse with them in their own tongue. It is hoped that this volume will be read and pondered in the spirit in which it was written. If it contributes to the correction of wrongs suffered by Americans at sea, personally andcommercially; if, at the same time, the reader is entertained and instructed, the purposes of the writer will have been accomplished. CONTENTS Motives and Purposes The First Step The Flight to Niagara My Introduction to Spydom Breaking Bread with Spies Spies at the Round Table On the Waves In Prison at Sea Dieting Norway and Sweden In the Danish Capital Like Smelling Powder Visits with Claus Bravo The Imprisonment and Release Secret Agents in Warsaw The Dainty Spy in Berlin Methods and Dangers of Spying Sailing the Cattegat A Thousand Miles Around Filing a Protest America off the Sea What Is Americanism? Poems Written Abroad