ing married, and had nearly
succeeded, but the plot was nipped in the bud by the Rover boys.

Tad Sobber met Josiah Crabtree and the pair hatched out another plot,
this time to abduct Mrs. Stanhope, getting the lady at the time to bring
a good share of the treasure with her under the impression that it was
to be invested by her friends. The lady was carried off to an island in
Casco Bay, off the coast of Maine, and thither the Rover boys and some
others followed them. There was a good deal of excitement; but in the
end the lady was rescued and the treasure brought back. An effort was
made to capture Tad Sobber and Josiah Crabtree, but the two evildoers
managed to get away.

The home-coming of the boys with Mrs. Stanhope had been a time of great
rejoicing. Dora had embraced Dick over and over again for what he had
done for her mother, and Nellie and Grace had not been backward in
complimenting Tom and Sam on their good work. There had been a general
jubilee which had lasted several days.

"Splendid work, boys, splendid work!" Anderson Rover had said. "I am
proud of you!"

"Better work than the authorities could do," had come from Uncle
Randolph.

"Now that treasure had better be placed where no outsider can get his
hands on it," Mr. Rover had added. And soon after that it was put in the
strong box of a safe deposit company, there to remain until it could be
properly invested.

At Brill College the Rover boys had fallen in with a number of fine
fellows, including Stanley Browne and a German-American student named
Max Spangler. They had also encountered some others, among whom were
Dudd Flockley, Jerry Koswell and Bart Larkspur. Led by Koswell, who was
a thoroughly bad egg, the three last-named students had tried to get the
Rover boys into trouble, and had succeeded. But they overreached
themselves and were exposed, and in sheer fright Koswell and Larkspur
ran away and refused to return. Dudd Flockley was repentant and was
given another chance.

While on the hunt for Mrs. Stanhope, the Rovers had fallen in with
Koswell and Larkspur. But instead of getting aid from the pair, the
latter did what they could to help old Crabtree and Sobber. This brought
on a fight, and Koswell and Larkspur received a thrashing they would
long remember. The former college students might have been arrested,
but, like Crabtree and Sobber, they kept out of sight.

"They are sure a bunch of bad ones," had been Dick Rover's comment, when