fter their marriage Dick and his wife became the parents
of a son, who was named John, after Mrs. Rover's uncle, Mr. John Laning.
This son was followed by a daughter, named Martha, after her great-aunt
Martha of Valley Brook Farm. The boy Jack, as he was commonly called,
was a sturdy youth with many of the qualities which had made his father
so successful.

It was around this time that Tom Rover and his wife Nellie came to the
front with a great surprise. This was in the nature of a pair of 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 exceedingly active
lads, in that particular being a second edition of their father, Tom.

About the time Tom's twins were born Sam Rover and his wife Grace became
the parents of a little girl, whom they called Mary, after Mrs. Laning.
Then, a year later, the girl was followed by a boy, who was christened
Fred after Sam Rover's old school chum, Fred Garrison.

Residing so close together, the younger generation of Rover boys, as
well as the sisters, were brought up very much as one family. When they
were old enough all were at first sent to private schools in the
Metropolis. But soon the boys, 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 send them to some strict boarding school--some military
academy," said Dick Rover.

At that time Lawrence Colby, the Putnam Hall chum of the older Rovers,
was at the head of 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. At the head of the lake was the Rick
Rack River, running down from the mountains 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. Close by was
a smaller building occupied by Colonel Colby and his family and some of
the professors, and at a short distance were a gymnasium and a
boathouse, and likewise bathing pavilions.

On arriving at Colby Hall the younger Rovers found several of their
friends awaiting them, including Dick Powell and Gifford Garriso