The Rover boys accompanied the others to the Grand Central Terminal. Here Jack managed to have a few words in private with Ruth, and at the conclusion he gave her hand so tight a squeeze that she blushed. Then the visitors boarded the train and in a minute more were gone.
"And now to get ready for the trip to Snowshoe Island!" cried Randy.
"That's the talk!" returned his twin.
The boys were to leave for Rockville, the nearest railroad station to Snowshoe Island, on the day after New Year's. They spent several hours in packing their things, being advised in that matter by their fathers, who, as my old readers know, had been on many hunting expeditions before them.
"Now, there is no use of my giving you any advice on how to handle your firearms," said Dick Rover. "I have given you that advice before, and you ought to remember what I said."
"I do, Dad," answered his son. "And I'm sure the others remember, too."
"And I want you two boys to keep out of mischief," put in Tom Rover, addressing his twins. "Of course, you can have all the fun you please, but let it be good, innocent nonsense. Don't do anything mean, and don't do anything to get somebody else into trouble."
"And my advice is, to go slow and be careful," added Sam Rover. "In other words: 'Look before you leap'——"
"As the clown in the circus said," finished Tom Rover, "when he thought he was going to jump through a paper hoop and found instead that it was a solid white barrel-head;" and at this little joke there was a general laugh.
The boys had already told their fathers about the doings of Nappy Martell and Slugger Brown.