at Tom and Nellie Rover came to the front
with a surprise for all of the others. This was in the shape of a pair
of very lively twins, one of whom was named Anderson, after his
grandfather, and the other, Randolph, after his great-uncle Randolph
of Valley Brook Farm. Andy and Randy, as they were always called, were
very active lads, in that particular being a second edition of their
father.

About the time Tom's twins were born Sam and Grace Rover came along
with a beautiful little girl, whom they named Mary after Mrs. Laning.
Then, a year later, the girl was followed by a sturdy boy, christened
Fred after Sam Rover's old and well-known school chum, Fred Garrison.

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

At first the boys and girls had been sent to private schools in the
Metropolis; but soon the lads, led by Andy and Randy, showed such a
propensity for "cutting loose" that their parents were compelled to
hold a consultation.

"We'll have to do as Uncle Randolph did with us," said Dick Rover.
"We'll have to send them to some strict boarding school--some military
academy." And to this the others had agreed.

Some time previous their old school chum, Lawrence Colby, who had
since become a colonel in the state militia, had opened a military
academy, called Colby Hall.

"We'll send them to that place," was the decision of the older Rovers.
"Lawrence Colby is just the fellow to make them behave themselves, and
as we are such good friends he will be sure to give them extra
attention."

So the boys were sent off to this school, 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 and nearly half a mile wide. At the head of the
lake was the Rick Rack River, running down from the hills and woods
beyond.

The school consisted of a large stone building, facing the river at a
point not far from where the stream emptied into the lake. It was a
three-storied structure, and contained the classrooms and a mess hall
and also the dormitories