d in a girl's voice. "I
haven't done a thing this afternoon, and what will papa say when he
gets back?"

"Oh, that's all right, Minnie," was the answer in masculine tones.
"You like us to be here, you know you do. And, remember, we haven't
seen you in a long time."

"Yes, I know, Mr. Flockley, but--"

"Oh, don't call me Mr. Flockley. Call me Dudd."

"Yes, and please don't call me Mr. Koswell," broke in another
masculine voice. "Jerry is good enough for me every time."

"But you must go now, you really must!" said the girl.

"We'll go if you'll say good-by in the right kind of a way, eh, Dudd?"
said the person called Jerry Koswell.

"Yes, Minnie, but we won't go until you do that," answered the young
man named Dudd Flockley.

"Wha--what do you mean?" faltered the girl. And now, looking through
the sitting-room window and through a doorway leading to the kitchen,
the Rover boys saw a pretty damsel of sixteen standing by a pantry
door, facing two dudish young men of eighteen or twenty. The young men
wore checkered suits and sported heavy watch fobs and diamond rings
and scarf-pins.

"Why, you'll give us each a nice kiss, won't you?" said Dudd Flockley
with a smile that was meant to be alluring.

"Of course Minnie will give us a kiss," said Jerry Koswell. "Next
Saturday I'm coming over to give you a carriage ride."

"I don't wish any carriage ride," answered the girl coldly. Her face
had gone white at the mention of kisses.

"Well, let's have the kisses anyway!" cried Dudd Flockley, and
stepping forward, he caught the girl by one hand, while Jerry Koswell
grasped her by the other.

"Oh, please let me go!" cried the girl. "Please do! Oh, Mr. Flockley!
Mr. Koswell, don't--don't--please!"

"Now be nice about it," growled Dudd Flockley.

"It won't hurt you a bit," added Jerry Koswell.

"I want you to let me go!" cried the girl.

"I will as soon as--" began Dudd Flockley, and then he gave a sudden
roar of pain as he found himself caught by the ear. Then a hand caught
him by the arm and he was whirled around and sent into a corner with a
crash. At the same time Jerry Koswell was tackled and sent down in a
heap in another corner. The girl, thus suddenly released, stared at
the newcomers in astonishment and then sank down on a chair, too much
overcome to move or speak.

CHAPTER III

LIKE KNIGHTS OF OLD

The Rover boys had acted on the impulse of the moment. They had seen
that the girl wanted the