“It certainly was strange, Aleck.  But, come, I am anxious to get home.  Here are the trunk checks,” and Dick passed the brasses over.

In a moment more the three boys had entered the carriage, along with Jack Ness.  Tom insisted on driving, and away they went at a spanking gait, over Swift River, through the little village of Dexter’s Corners, and then out on the road that led to Valley Brook farm.

As my old readers know, the Rover boys were three in number, as already introduced.  They were the sons of Anderson Rover, a well-to-do gentleman, who was now living in retirement at Valley Brook, in company with his brother Randolph, and the latter’s wife, Martha.

While Anderson Rover had been on a hunt for gold in the heart of Africa, the three boys had been sent by their Uncle Randolph to a military academy known as Putnam Hall.  Here they made many friends and also a few enemies, the worst of the latter being Dan Baxter, a bully who wanted his way in everything.  Baxter was the offspring of a family of low reputation, and his father, Arnold Baxter, was now in prison for various misdeeds.

The first term at school had been followed by an exciting chase on the ocean, after which the boys had gone with their uncle to the jungles of Africa, in a search after Anderson Rover.  After the parent was found it was learned that Arnold Baxter was trying to swindle the Rovers out of a valuable gold mine in the far West, but this plot, after some exciting adventures, was nipped in the bud.

The trip West had tired the boys, and they hailed an outing on the Great Lakes with delight.  During this outing they learned something about a treasure located in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, and the next winter visited the locality and unearthed a box containing gold, silver, and precious stones, worth several thousands of dollars.  During this treasure-hunt Dan Baxter did his best to bring the Rover boys to grief, but without success.

After the winter in the Adirondacks, the boys had expected to return at once to Putnam Hall to continue their studies.  But three pupils were taken down with scarlet fever, and the academy was promptly closed by the master, Captain Victor Putnam.

“That gives us another holiday,” Tom had said.  “Let us put in the time by traveling,” and, later on, it was decided that the boys should visit California for their health.  This they did, and in the seventh volume of this series, entitled “The Rover Boys on Land and Sea,” I related the particulars of how they were carried off to sea during a violent storm, in company with three of their old-time girl friends, Dora Stanhope and her cousins, Nellie and Grace Laning.  It may be mentioned here that Dick thought Dora Stanhope the sweetest girl in the world, and Tom and Sam were equally smitten with Nellie and Grace Laning.