alley Brook Farm.
Andy and Randy, as the twins were always called, were decidedly active
lads, taking after their father, "who was never still a minute," to
quote Grandpa Rover.

Shortly after the twins were born, Sam and Grace Rover came along with a
beautiful girl, named Mary, after Mrs. Laning. Then, a year later, the
girl was followed by a sturdy boy, who was called Fred, in honor of Sam
Rover's old and well known school chum, Fred Garrison.

Residing so close together, the younger generation of Rovers were
brought up very much like one big family. They usually spent their
winters in New York City, and during the summers often went out to
Valley Brook Farm, where their grandfather, Anderson Rover, still
resided with Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha.

When the boys and girls grew old enough they were at first sent to
private schools in the Metropolis. But soon the lads, led by Andy and
Randy, showed a propensity for "cutting loose" that their parents were
compelled to hold a consultation.

"We'll have to send them to some strict boarding school--some military
academy," said Dick Rover; and so it was decided.

Lawrence Colby, their old Putnam Hall chum, had since that time become a
colonel in the state militia and had then opened a military academy
called Colby Hall. To this institution, Jack, Fred and the twins were
sent, as related in detail in the first volume of my second series,
entitled "The Rover Boys at Colby Hall."

This military school was located about half a mile from the town of
Haven Point on Clearwater Lake, a beautiful sheet of water about two
miles long. The school consisted of a large stone building facing the
lake. It was a three-storied structure and contained the classrooms and
the mess hall, and also dormitories and private rooms for the students.
Besides the main building, there was a smaller structure occupied by
Colonel Colby and his family and some of the professors, and also an
up-to-date gymnasium and boathouses and bathing pavilions.

On arriving at the academy the younger Rovers found several of their
friends awaiting them, one of these being Dick Powell, the son of
Songbird Powell, a former schoolmate of their fathers. Dick was always
called Spouter because of a fondness for long speeches. Another cadet
was Gif Garrison, a son of Fred Garrison, after whom Fred Rover had been
named. There was also Walter Baxter, a son of Dan Baxter, who, years
previous, had been an enemy of the olde