"Have you any idea what became of Baxter?"
"Not the slightest."
"And of Mumps, the fellow who used to be his toady?"
"Oh, Mumps reformed, after that chase on the ocean, and I've since heard that he went West, struck some sort of a job as a bookkeeper, or something like that."
"Well, old Crabtree is safe. He won't bother you any more," concluded Fred, and there the subject dropped.
The weeks glided by quickly, until spring was at hand, and the green grass began to cover the bills and fields surrounding Cayuga Lake. Still the Rover boys pegged away, and it must be admitted that even Captain Putnam was astonished at their progress.
"They are whole-souled fellows," he said to George Strong. "They put their whole mind into everything they go into."
"And those are the boys who afterward make their mark in the world," answered the head assistant. "The Rover boys are all right."