The Rover Boys on Land and Sea | Page 2

on, I'll see that you get the
right trunks."
"I think we are going to have some good times while we are on the
Pacific coast," observed Tom Rover, while he and Sam were waiting
for Dick and the cabman to return.
"I shan't object to a good time," replied Sam. "That is what we came
for."
"Before we go back I am going to have a sail up and down the coast."
"To be sure, Tom. Perhaps we can sail down to Santa Barbara. That is a
sort of Asbury Park and Coney Island combined, so I have been told."
Dick Rover and the cabman soon returned. The trunks were piled on
the carriage and the boys got in, and away they bowled from the station
in the direction of the Oakland House.
It was about ten o'clock of a clear day in early spring. The boys had
reached San Francisco a few minutes before, taking in the sights on the
way. Now they sat up in the carriage taking in more sights, as the
turnout moved along first one street and then another.
As old readers of this series know, the Rover boys were three in
number, Dick being the oldest, fun-loving Tom next, and
sturdy-hearted Sam the youngest. They were the only offspring of
Anderson Rover, a former traveler and mine-owner, who, at present,
was living with his brother Randolph and his sister-in-law Martha, on
their beautiful farm at Valley Brook, in the heart of New York State.
During the past few years the Rover boys had had numerous adventures,

so many, in fact, that they can scarcely be hinted at here. While their
father was in the heart of Africa, their Uncle Randolph had sent them
off to Putnam Hall Academy. Here they had made many friends among
the boys and also among some folks living in the vicinity, including
Mrs. Stanhope and her daughter Dora, a girl who, according to Dick
Rover's idea, was the sweetest creature in the whole world. They had
also made some enemies, the worst of the number being Dan Baxter, a
fellow who had been the bully of the school, but who was now a
homeless wanderer on the face of the earth. Baxter came from a
disreputable family, his father having at one time tried to swindle Mr.
Rover out of a rich gold mine in the West. The elder Baxter was now in
prison suffering the penalty for various crimes.
A term at school had been followed by an exciting chase on the ocean,
and then by a trip through the jungle of Africa, whence the Rover boys
had gone to find their long-lost father. After this the boys made a trip
West to establish their parent's claim to the gold mine just mentioned,
and this was followed by a grand trip on the Great Lakes in which the
boys suffered not a little at the hands of the Baxters. On an island on
one of the lakes the Rover boys found a curious casket and this, on
being opened, proved to contain some directions for locating a treasure
secreted in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains.
"We must locate that treasure," said Tom Rover, and off they started
for the mountains, and did locate it at last, but not before Dan Baxter
had done everything in his power to locate it ahead of them. When they
finally outwitted their enemy, Dan Baxter had disappeared, and that
was the last they had seen of him for some time.
The Rover boys had expected to return to Putnam Hall and their studies
immediately after the winter outing in the Adirondacks, but an
unexpected happening at the institution of learning made them change
their plans. Three pupils were taken down with scarlet fever, and rather
than run the risk of having more taken sick, Captain Victor Putnam had
closed up the Academy for the time being, and sent the pupils to their
homes.
"The boys will have to go to some other school," their Aunt Martha had

said, but one and another had murmured at this, for they loved Captain
Putnam too well to desert him so quickly.
"Let us wait a few months," had been Dick's suggestion.
"Let us study at home," had come from Sam.
"Let us travel," Tom had put in. "Travel broadens the mind." He loved
to be "on the go" all the time.
The matter was talked over for several days, and Tom begged that they
might take a trip across the continent and back, using some of the
money derived from the old treasure. At last Anderson Rover consented;
and two days later the three boys were off, going by way of New York
City, on the Chicago Limited. They had spent two days in the