fellows, let's get back to the Hall, it's almost supper time," and
with that he trudged away, he and his cronies pulling the _Yellow
Streak_ behind them.

"He sure is one sweet-tempered fellow," was Spouter's comment.

"Jack, why didn't you pitch into him, anyway?" questioned Andy
anxiously.

"I didn't have to," returned Jack briefly. "Just the same, I won't
forget the way he has acted. If it wasn't that I am captain of Company
C, and am expected not to fight, I'd have given him the thrashing of his
life."

To the many young folks who have read the former volumes in this series,
the Rover boys will not need an introduction. But for the benefit of new
readers a few words concerning my characters will be necessary.

In the first volume, entitled "The Rover Boys at School," I related how
three brothers, Dick, Tom, and Sam Rover, were sent to Putnam Hall
Military Academy, where they made a great number of friends, including a
cadet named Lawrence Colby.

From Putnam Hall the boys went to Brill College, and, after leaving that
institution of learning, joined their father in business in New York
City, with offices on Wall Street. They organized The Rover Company, of
which Dick was president, Tom, secretary and general manager, and Sam,
treasurer.

During their cadet days at Putnam Hall the three Rovers had become
acquainted with a number of charming girls, including Dora Stanhope and
her cousins, Nellie and Grace Laning. When Dick went into business he
made Dora Stanhope his life partner, and a short while after this Tom
married Nellie Laning and Sam married Grace. The three brothers
purchased a fine plot of ground on Riverside Drive overlooking the
Hudson River, and there they built three connecting houses, Dick and his
wife living in the middle house, with Tom on one side and Sam on the
other.

About a year after their marriage Dick and his wife became the proud
parents of a little son, who was named John after Mr. Laning. This son
was followed by a daughter, named Martha, after her Great-aunt Martha,
of Valley Brook Farm. Little Jack, as he was commonly called, was a
manly lad with many of the qualities which made his father so successful
in life.

It was about this time that Tom and Nellie Rover sprang a great surprise
on all the others. This surprise was in the shape of a pair of very
lively boy twins, one christened Anderson, after his grandfather, and
the other Randolph, after his Great-uncle Randolph of V