“Isn’t he all to the mustard!” exclaimed Andy. “Gosh, Uncle Sam, he must have been a fine fellow for a school chum!”
“He was, Andy—a real prince of good fellows.” Sam Rover paused for a moment. “Now then, I’ve got something to tell you,” he went on. “I hope it won’t interfere with your examination tests,” he added. “But it’s something that must be told. I haven’t said anything to the girls about it, but you boys had better know it.”
“What is that?” the lads questioned in concert.
“That rascal, Carson Davenport, is at liberty along with his pals, Jackson and Tate.”
“We know that already.”
“Yes, so the girls told me this morning,” came from Sam Rover. “But there is something more to tell than that—something the girls know nothing about.”
“What is that?” questioned Jack.
“Davenport paid a secret visit to your father last week,” was the reply. “He demanded fifty thousand dollars, and said if it wasn’t forthcoming he would make the Rovers suffer as they had never suffered before.”