CHAPTER I 

SOMETHING ABOUT THE ROVER BOYS 

"Luff up a little, Sam, or the _Spray_ will run on the rocks." 

"All right, Dick. I haven't got sailing down quite as fine as you yet. How far do you suppose we are from Albany?" 

"Not over eight or nine miles. If this wind holds out we'll make that city by six o'clock. I'll tell you what, sailing on the Hudson suits me first-rate." 

"And it suits me, too," put in Tom Rover, addressing both of his brothers. "I like it ten times better than staying on Uncle Randolph's farm." 

"But I can't say that I like it better than life at Putnam Hall," smiled Sam Rover, as he threw over the tiller of the little yacht. "I'm quite anxious to meet Captain Putnam and Fred, Frank, and Larry again." 

"Oh, so am I," answered Tom Rover. "But an outing on the Hudson is just the best of a vacation. By the way, I wonder if all of our old friends will be back?" 

"Most of them will be." 

"And our enemies?" 

"Dan Baxter won't come back," answered Dick seriously. "He ran away to Chicago with two hundred dollars belonging to his father, and I guess that's the end of him--so far as Putnam Hall and we are concerned. What a bully he was!" 

"I feel it in my bones, Dick, that we'll meet Dan Baxter again," came from Sam Rover. 

"Don't you remember that in that note he left when he ran away he said he would take pains to get square with us some day?" 
Who were the other three men?
I'm quite anxious to meet Captain Putnam and Fred, Frank, and Larry again." 
