The three young men married the sweethearts of their school and college days, and as a result of these unions Dick was blessed with a son and a daughter, Jack and Martha, Sam followed with a son and a daughter, named Fred and Mary, while the fun-loving Tom came forward with a lively pair of twins, called Randy and Andy.
At this time the three Rover families lived in three connecting houses on Riverside Drive overlooking the Hudson River. At first the young folks attended the local schools, but soon the boys’ propensity for fun and “cutting up” became so pronounced their elders thought it would be better to send them to some strict boarding school.
Colonel Colby, a school chum of the older Rovers, had established a first-class military academy, and in the first volume of our Second Series, entitled “The Rover Boys at Colby Hall,” was related how Jack, Fred and the twins went to that institution of learning and made many friends, including Gif Garrison and Spouter Powell, the sons of their father’s chums. At the same time Mary and Martha attended a nearby boarding school where they became intimately acquainted with Ruth Stevenson and May Powell, a cousin to Spouter.
A number of years had passed since the younger Rovers had first attended Colby Hall, and during that time they had had a number of thrilling adventures on Snowshoe Island, under canvas, on a hunt, in the oil fields, at Big Horn Ranch and at Big Bear Lake. They had also been shipwrecked, and had been abducted and held for a heavy ransom, as related in the volume preceding this, entitled “The Rover Boys on Sunset Trail.”
During the days at the military school and while on their numerous outings the Rover boys had made a great number of friends and also a number of bitter enemies. Some of their enemies had paid the penalty of their misdeeds and were now in prison, but others were still at large and eagerly awaiting an opportunity to do the Rovers an injury.
While at Colby Hall Jack had worked his way up until he became the major of the school battalion, while Fred became captain of Company C. Andy and Randy had been too full of fun to go in for military honors, but had taken their part in numerous sporting contests. When the time came for graduating from the school all of the boys had passed with flying colors, much to their parents’ delight.
“The kids are all O. K., even if they’re full of fun,” said Tom Rover proudly to his wife, Nellie.
“Well, you can’t blame them for being full of fun, Tom,” returned his wife, with a twinkle in her eye. “You were always chock-full of fun yourself—you know you were,” and she poked him affectionately in the ribs.
“Indeed!” said Tom very innocently. “Why, I always thought I was a model young man, as well as a model husband,” and then he ducked as Nellie made a move as if to catch him by the hair.
On leaving Colby Hall, the Rover boys had been undecided regarding what to do next. There had been some talk of going to college, but both Jack and Fred had intimated that they would like to go into business in Wall Street with their fathers. Andy and Randy declared for a trip around the world or “some kind of an outing somewhere.”