In the Track of the Troops

Jeffry Childers begins his account of wartime adventures with the experiments that once disrupted his family's home. A restless inventor with medical training, he recalls taking toys apart, pursuing perpetual motion and testing explosive devices. An accident involving the groom, Jacob Lancey, gives his scientific enthusiasm a painful consequence. At the Devonshire estate of Fagend, family life also connects him to Nicholas Naranovitsch, a Russian army officer engaged to his sister Bella.

R. M. Ballantyne's novel for young readers moves between domestic humour and the hardships of a military campaign. In a camp scene, the soldier André speaks of the girl and mother he left behind, before a wounded villager brings news that prompts urgent action. Childers supplies medical care as the detachment prepares to move. These personal moments give the adventure its interest: curiosity, affection and responsibility meet the human costs of war.