repairs in the dark. Securing this, and turning on the light, Sam ran
forward to the river bank, with Tom beside him.

To those who have read the previous volumes in this "Rover Boys
Series" the lads just mentioned will need no special introduction. For
the benefit of others, however, let me state that the Rover boys were
three in number; Dick being the oldest, fun-loving Tom coming next,
and sturdy Sam being the youngest. When at home, which was only for a
short time each year, the boys lived with their father, Anderson
Rover, and their Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha on a farm called
Valley Brook, in New York State.

While their father was in Africa, the boys had been sent to Putnam
Hall Military Academy, as related in the first volume of this series,
entitled "The Rover Boys at School." There they had made quite a few
friends, and, also, some enemies.*

*For particulars regarding how Putnam Hall Military Academy was
organized, and what fine times the cadets there enjoyed even before
the Rovers appeared on the scene, read "The Putnam Hall Series," six
volumes, starting with "The Putnam Hall Cadets."-- Publishers

The first term at school was followed by an exciting trip on the
ocean, and then another trip into the jungles of Africa, where the
boys went looking for their parent. Then came a journey to the West,
and some grand times on the Great Lakes and in the Mountains. After
that, the Rover boys came back to the Hall to go into camp with their
fellow-cadets. Then they took a long journey over land and sea, being
cast away on a lonely island in the Pacific.