Guy Ellis, aka Grey Shadow, is an agent with British Secret Service.
The period of time this renowned English operative has his adventures recorded for us to read many years later is during the Great War, that horrific conflict which spanned four years and three months and two weeks. It is during this period that a British Army officer with the rank of Captain named Guy Ellis would, for reasons known only to himself, decide to not only become intimately involved in espionage work against Germany.
It is interesting to point out here that the sobriquet by which Ellis is far better known than his own surname is never used with a definite article; there is no reference to 'the Grey Shadow' throughout his many exploits leaving him only called 'Grey Shadow' as though it were a name itself. This is by not only those who speak of him in these tales but also by the tales' chronicler. It does, however, appear in blurbs seen in newspapers but those are hardly official.
In one of those blurbs (Linwood Library Gazette), though, comes a terrific description of the career that Ellis/Grey Shadow enjoyed: "his marvelous elusion of the net spread for him and his secret entrances not only into Germany, but into Germany's secret places, earned him the title 'The Grey Shadow". A clever air pilot. The Grey Shadow sends home information of enemy aerodromes and organizes the escape of British prisoners of war." He does a fair amount more, of course, but it does show how impressive the man was.
Impressive is not a word the German High Command would use for Grey Shadow but then again I would not print the words they would use. They also offered to use 50,000 marks (not sure what the equivalency is today but they make it sound like a lot!) for his capture. Reading the exploits of this operative and knowing that by the time these took place, he had been in action for quite some time, it is easy to see why they would offer what they indicate is a considerable sum to get someone - anyone - to turn him in.
After some time has passed, Ellis/Grey Shadow will be joined in his activities with a younger fellow named Peter. Together they will be referred to as "two of the most brilliant spies in the British Secret Service". Peter is described as a 'lad' at numerous spots so it is likely to assume that he is a teenager.
Good Lines:
- Said by a German citizen to a friend in protest, "The newspapers do not lie! Why should they?"