lled Spouter because of his fondness for making speeches.
Another lad was Gifford Garrison, usually called Gif for short, who was
at the head of the school athletics. Gif was the son of Fred Garrison,
after whom Fred Rover had been named.

They also made friends of a number of others, some of whom we have
already met. These included Walter Baxter, the son of Dan Baxter, who
in years gone by had been an enemy to the older Rovers, but who had long
since reformed.

Before coming to Colby Hall Jack Rover had had a quarrel in New York
with a tall, dudish youth named Napoleon Martell, and this had almost
led to a fight. Nappy Martell, as he was usually called by his cronies,
was a pupil at the military academy, and soon he and his crony, a big,
overgrown bully, named Slogwell Brown, did what they could to make life
miserable for all of the Rovers. But in one of their dirty tricks they
over-reached themselves, and as a consequence they had been exposed and
sent away from the institution of learning for the time being.

"But they are coming back," Walt Baxter had told the Rover boys; "and
they say when they do, they will make it hot for you."

"Well, when Slugger and Nappy return we will be ready for them," had
been Jack Rover's reply.

"And the next time we won't be as easy on them as we were before," Fred
had added.

All of the cadets formed a battalion of several companies, commanded by
one of the older cadets, Major Ralph Mason. The Rovers took to the
military drill and general exercises readily, and soon learned how to
march and how to handle a gun. They enjoyed drilling very much--in
fact, they enjoyed it more than they did studying, although all of them
were good scholars.

As has been stated, Colby Hall was located about half a mile out of
Haven Point. On the other side of the town was located Clearwater Hall,
a boarding school for girls. During a panic in a moving picture theater
in the town, Jack and his cousins had become acquainted with a number of
these girls, including Ruth Stevenson and May Powell. After that the
four boys had taken four of the girls rowing on the lake and on other
outings, and through this had become quite well acquainted with a number
of the Clearwater Hall pupils. Jack was particularly interested in Ruth
Stevenson, and thought her a very beautiful and entertaining young lady.
The others did not seem to have any particular preference, although Fred
was often seen to side up to May Powel