“Lane’s Cove!” cried the smallest youth of the crowd.

“Yes.  Isn’t that a nice place?”

“Sure it is, but don’t you know that Ham Spink’s father has bought all the land around there?”

“What of that, Giant?”

“Maybe he won’t let us go swimming on his property—–­because of the trouble we had with Ham.”

“Oh, I don’t believe he’ll see us,” came from the boy called Whopper.  “Why, I’ve been swimming at the cove a thousand times, and nobody ever tried to stop me.”

“If he orders us away we can go,” said Shep Reed.  “I know he is just mean enough to do it.”

“Is Ham home yet?” asked one of the boys.

“No, but I heard he was going to come home as soon as that boarding school shut up for the summer.”

“Wonder if he’ll try to make more trouble?”

“If he does he’d better watch out, or he’ll get into hot water,” said Shep Reed; and then the boys separated, to get their swimming outfits and tell their folks what they proposed to do.

The boys lived in the town of Fairview, a country place, located on the Rocky River, about ten miles above a fine sheet of water called Lake Cameron.  The town boasted of a score of stores, several churches, a hotel, and a neat railroad station at which, during the summer months, as high as ten trains stopped daily.  On the outskirts of the town were a saw mill, a barrel factory, and several other industries.

To those who have read the two former books in this series, entitled, “Four Boy Hunters” and “Guns and Snowshoes,” the lads getting ready for a swim will need no special introduction.  The lad called Snap was Charley Dodge, the son of one of the most influential men of that neighborhood, who was a school trustee and also part owner of the saw mill and a large summer hotel.  Charley was a brave and wide-awake youth and was often looked up to as a leader by the others.  Where his nickname of Snap had originated it would be hard to say, although he was as full of snap and ginger as a shad is full of bones.

Sheppard Reed, always called Shep for short, was the son of a well-known physician, a boy who loved outdoor life, and one who was as strong as he was handsome.  He and Snap had been chums for many years, and as a consequence were occasionally known as the twins, although they were no relation to each other.

Frank Dawson had moved to Fairview about three years before this tale opens.  He was a merry lad, with laughing eyes, and his method of exaggerating had speedily gained for him the nickname of Whopper.  But Frank was withal a truthful lad his “whoppers” being of the sort meant to deceive nobody.  Even his mother could not make him give up his extravagant speech.  Once when she spoke about it he gravely replied: 

“I know it is wrong, mother, but I simply can’t stop it.  Why, I’ve made up my mind over a million times to—–­” And then he broke down, and his mother had to laugh in spite of herself.