This book, a Ruritanian romance for children,[1] is about Marco Loristan, his father, and his friend, a street urchin called "The Rat".

Marco's father, Stefan, is a Samavian patriot working to overthrow the cruel dictatorship in the kingdom of Samavia.

Marco discovers he had stumbled upon a club known as the Squad, where the boys drill under the leadership of The Rat, whose education and imagination far exceeds their own.

The book ends in a climactic scene as Marco realizes his father is the descendant of Ivor Fedorovitch and thus the rightful king of Samavia.

Early in the twentieth century the reigning monarch, King Michael Maranovitch, was assassinated, and civil war broke out as Nicola Iarovitch sought to gain the crown.