“Don’t you all like Ruth?” demanded the young major.
“Sure, we do!” came promptly from the others, and then, somehow, Jack felt better.
“You haven’t heard all of the secret yet,” Tom Rover said, grinning at his twin sons and his two nephews. “Shall I tell them?” he went on, turning to his brother Sam.
“Why not let them find it out for themselves?” came quickly from Fred’s father. And then, turning to the lads, he continued: “You don’t know where you are going, boys, but you’re on the way.”
“Do you mean to say that we’re not going home?” came from all four cadets in a chorus of wonder.
“You are not,” replied Tom Rover. “But don’t ask any more questions. Go ahead and get ready to leave. We have a long ride ahead of us, and we don’t want to drive any farther than is necessary after dark.”
While the Rover boys were saying good-bye to their chums and getting ready to make the trip, Tom Rover and his brother Sam went in to call on their old school chum, Colonel Colby.
“It’s a touch of old times to see you fellows again,” said Larry Colby, as he shook hands warmly. “It’s too bad Dick didn’t come with you. Then we’d have the old quartette,” and he smiled broadly.
“Well, time is bound to scatter us,” remarked Sam Rover. “Some of the fellows are scattered to the four quarters of the globe. About all the old crowd I ever see are Songbird Powell, Fred Garrison and Hans Mueller.”
Knowing that they had a long run ahead of them, the Rover boys lost no time in getting ready for the trip. Then their suitcases were stowed away and they climbed into the two cars, the twins with their father and the others with Sam Rover.