Jack. How are the folks?"

"Your father is putty well, and so is your Uncle Randolph. Your Aunt
Martha got so excited a-thinkin' you was coming hum she got a
headache."

"Dear Aunt Martha!" murmured Tom. "I'll soon cure her of that." He
turned to his brothers. "What shall we do about the trunks? We can't
take 'em in the carriage."

"Aleck is comin' for them boxes," said the hired man. "There's his
wagon now."

A box wagon came dashing up to the depot platform, with a tall,
good-looking colored man on the seat. The eyes of the colored man lit
up with pleasure when he caught sight of the boys.

"Well! well! well!" he ejaculated, leaping down and rushing forward.
"Heah yo' are at las', bless you! I'se been dat worried 'bout yo' I
couldn't 'most sleep fo' t'ree nights. An' jess to t'ink yo' was cast
away on an island in de middle of dat Pacific Ocean! It's a wonder dem
cannonballs didn't eat yo' up."

"Thanks, but we didn't meet any 'cannonballs,' Aleck, I am thankful to
say," replied Dick Rover. "Our greatest trouble was with some
mutineers who got drunk and wanted to run things to suit themselves.
They might have got the best of us, but a warship visited the island
just in the nick of time and rescued us."

"So I heared out ob dat letter wot yo' writ yo' father. An' to t'ink
dat Miss Dora Stanhope and de Laning gals was wrecked wid yo'! It's
wonderful!"

"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 pri