my dear lads,

had i attempted to write you an account of the whole of the adventurous career of charles the twelfth of sweden, it would, in itself, have filled a bulky volume, to the exclusion of all other matter; and a youth, who fought at narva, would have been a middle-aged man at the death of that warlike monarch, before the walls of frederickshall. i have, therefore, been obliged to confine myself to the first three years of his reign, in which he crushed the army of russia at narva, and laid the then powerful republic of poland prostrate at his feet. in this way, only, could i obtain space for the private adventures and doings of charlie carstairs, the hero of the story. the details of the wars of charles the twelfth were taken from the military history, written at his command by his chamberlain, adlerfeld; from a similar narrative by a scotch gentleman in his service; and from voltaire's history. the latter is responsible for the statement that the trade of poland was almost entirely in the hands of scotch, french, and jewish merchants, the poles themselves being sharply divided into the two categories of nobles and peasants.

yours sincerely,

g. a. henty.