The Rover Boys on a Hunt | Page 5

Dick was president, Tom, secretary and general manager, and
Sam, treasurer.
During their cadet days at Putnam Hall the three Rovers had become
acquainted with a number of charming girls, including Dora Stanhope
and her cousins, Nellie and Grace Laning. When Dick went into
business he made Dora Stanhope his life partner, and a short while after
this Tom married Nellie Laning and Sam married Grace. The three
brothers purchased a fine plot of ground on Riverside Drive
overlooking the Hudson River, and there they built three connecting
houses, Dick and his wife living in the middle house, with Tom on one
side and Sam on the other.
About a year after their marriage Dick and his wife became the proud
parents of a little son, who was named John after Mr. Laning. This son
was followed by a daughter, named Martha, after her Great-aunt
Martha, of Valley Brook Farm. Little Jack, as he was commonly called,
was a manly lad with many of the qualities which made his father so
successful in life.
It was about this time that Tom and Nellie Rover sprang a great
surprise on all the others. This surprise was in the shape of a pair of
very lively boy twins, one christened Anderson, after his grandfather,
and the other Randolph, after his Great-uncle Randolph of Valley
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 older Rovers, but who
had since reformed and who was doing well.

As mentioned, Colby Hall was situated about half a mile from Haven
Point. On the opposite side of the town was located Clearwater Hall, a
boarding school for girls. During a panic in a moving picture theatre
Jack and his cousins became acquainted with a number of these school
girls, including Ruth Stevenson, May Powell, Alice Strobell and Annie
Larkins. They soon found out that May was Spouter Powell's cousin,
and the whole crowd of young people became friends. Later on Mary
and Martha Rover became pupils at Clearwater Hall.
Ruth Stevenson had an old Uncle Barney, who in times past had had a
bitter quarrel with Ruth's parents. The Rover boys, while out hunting
one day, had occasion to save the old man's life. For this the old fellow
was exceedingly grateful, and as a result he invited them to spend their
winter holidays with him,