“Oh, gee, I forgot all about it!” answered Jack. “Then the trophy has gone to the bottom of the lake! But never mind—I’d rather have the trophy missing than you,” he added grimly, and then aided his cousin to keep afloat until the motor boat came alongside and they were both assisted on board.
And now I think it is high time that I pause for a moment to introduce the Rover boys and their friends to those who are meeting them for the first time. In the first volume of this line of books, entitled “The Rover Boys at School,” I introduced three brothers, Dick, Tom and Sam Rover, and related how they were sent to Putnam Hall Military Academy where they made a number of chums, including a cadet named Lawrence Colby. From Putnam Hall the three Rover boys went to Brill College and then entered business in Wall Street, New York City.
During their days at school the Rover brothers fell in love with three nice girls, Dora Stanhope and her cousins, Nellie and Grace Laning. The three young couples became married and settled down in connecting houses on Riverside Drive in New York City. As the result of his marriage Dick Rover became the father of a son, Jack, and a daughter named Martha; Sam Rover was blessed with a girl named Mary, and then a son, who was christened Fred. About this same time Tom Rover’s wife, Nellie, came forward with a lively pair of twin boys, who were named Anderson and Randolph after their grandfather and their great-uncle. Andy and Randy, as they were always called, were full of fun, thus following in the footsteps of their ever-lively father.
Residing side by side, the younger generation of Rover boys, as well as the girls, were brought up very much as one large family. At first they attended private institutions of learning in the metropolis. But presently, when the lads began to develop a propensity for fun, it was decided to send them to some stricter institution of learning.
At that time Larry Colby was at the head of a military academy called Colby Hall. Jack and Fred, as well as the lively twins, were sent to that institution of learning, and what happened to them during their first term there has already been related in a volume entitled “The Rover Boys at Colby Hall.”
At school and elsewhere the young Rovers made many friends, and also a few enemies. Among their warmest chums were Gif Garrison, the son of their fathers’ old friend, Fred Garrison, after whom Fred Rover was named, and Spouter Powell, the son of the older Rover boys’ chum, John Powell, always known as Songbird.
A term at Colby Hall had been followed by some stirring winter adventures on “Snowshoe Island.” Then the cadets returned to school to go into an encampment “Under Canvas.” Later still the lads went on a great “Hunt.” During these times Jack and Fred took a great interest in military matters, and the former gradually worked up until he became major of the school battalion while Fred became captain of Company C. This was at a time when the World War was taking place and when their fathers, and also Colonel Colby, were doing their duty on the battlefields of France.
The war at an end, the older Rovers returned to the United States. Through a soldier whose life he had saved Dick Rover became interested in the oil fields of Texas and Oklahoma, and how he journeyed to the oil fields, taking the four Rover boys with him, is fully set forth in a volume entitled “The Rover Boys in the Land of Luck.” Dick Rover, aided by the boys, was highly successful in his quest for oil, but he made several bitter enemies, including Carson Davenport, who, with two of his pals, was sent to prison.
From the oil fields the boys returned to school, but a short time later accompanied Spouter Powell on a trip to “Big Horn Ranch.” Later still they went with Gif Garrison to “Big Bear Lake,” where they had some great doings. It was here that they found some of the Longley Academy boys in camp and where Tommy Flanders, the pitcher for the rival academy, had sought to do them much harm and had been brought to book.
Colby Hall was located on Clearwater Lake not far from the town of Haven Point. On the other side of the town was situated Clearwater Hall, a school for girls. Among the pupils at this institution were Ruth Stevenson and also May Powell, a cousin of Spouter Powell. Jack and the other lads speedily became acquainted with these girls and later on induced the folks at home to allow Martha and Mary to become pupils at the place.