alarm as the big snowball hit
him in the stomach and hurled him to one side. Then the snowball passed
on down the stairs, slid across the lower hallway, and shot directly
through the open door leading to Colonel Colby's private office!

CHAPTER II

SOMETHING ABOUT THE ROVER BOYS

"Gee, we've done it now!"

"The snowball knocked Professor Duke over!"

"Hi! Stop that! What do you mean? Who did that?" came in smothered tones
from Snopper Duke, who now sat on one of the lower steps of the stairs,
holding both hands over the spot where the big snowball had struck him.

"Gosh! it struck him, all right," whispered Gif Garrison.

"Yes. And it went across the hallway into Colonel Colby's office!" gasped
Andy, who had scrambled to his feet and given a glance downward.

"Skip for it!" put in his twin brother quickly. "We mustn't be caught at
this."

The warning was not needed, for all of the cadets were already scrambling
through the corridor and away from the stairs as rapidly as possible.
They came to a halt in front of Room 18, that which Jack occupied.

"Skip inside and pretend to be reading or studying," said the oldest of
the Rover boys.

"I think we had better go to our own rooms," said Gif to Phil and
Spouter. "And remember, mum is the word," he added for the benefit of the
others.

"There'll be some fun sooner or later, believe me," remarked Fred. "Andy,
why did you push that snowball downstairs on top of old Duke?"

"I didn't do it on purpose. I slipped," was the answer. "But come before
they start to investigate." And then he slipped into Jack's room,
followed by his cousins.

And here let me pause for a moment to tell something about the Rover boys
and how it was that they came to be at Colby Hall. My old readers will
not need this introduction, and, therefore, I shall not feel hurt if they
skip my words on the subject.

In the first volume of this line, entitled "The Rover Boys at School," I
introduced three brothers, Dick, Tom, and Sam Rover, and told how they
were sent to Putnam Hall Military Academy where they made a number of
chums, including a cadet named Lawrence Colby.

Passing through Putnam Hall successfully, the three brothers next
attended Brill College, and then went into business in New York City,
where they organized The Rover Company, with offices on Wall Street.

During their school days the Rover brothers had fallen in with three very
nice girls, Dora Stanhope and her cou