Before Jack Rover had been elected major of the school battalion, Ralph Mason had occupied that important position. Through Ralph the lads obtained an invitation for a motor boat trip out to Nantucket and Cape Cod. What this trip led to has already been related in the volume preceding this, entitled “The Rover Boys Shipwrecked.” They found themselves carried down to the West Indies and were there plunged into an unexpected hunt for pirates’ gold.
“Well, we certainly had great times on that trip,” declared Randy. “I don’t suppose we’ll ever have such strenuous times again.” But Randy could not look into the future. Strenuous days were still to come for the boys, as the pages which follow will prove.
“Do you feel all right, Randy?” questioned Fred anxiously, as his cousin came aboard, followed by Jack.
“I—I think I’m all right!” gasped Randy. “Gee, it’s too bad the silver trophy went to the bottom of the lake! I hung on to it as long as I could, but it was too much for me.”
“You shouldn’t have risked your life for it,” said Phil Franklin.
“I had hold of it, too, but I let go before Randy did,” put in Andy. “I wasn’t going to drown for any trophy, no matter how valuable it was.”
“It’s all the fault of that steam yacht,” growled Pud Hicks. “We’re lucky they didn’t cut us in two.”
“Run up alongside and see what they’ve got to say,” said Jack, and as he spoke the young major of the school battalion did what he could to wring the water from his baseball uniform. Fortunately, it being a warm day, there was little danger of those who had been submerged taking cold.