INTRODUCTION
My Dear Boys: This book is a complete story in itself, but forms the seventh volume in a line issued under the general title, “The Second Rover Boys Series for Young Americans.”
As told in some volumes of the First Series, this line of books was started years ago with the publication of “The Rover Boys at School,” “On the Ocean,” and “In the Jungle,” in which I introduced my readers to Dick, Tom and Sam Rover and their chums and relatives. The First Series, consisting of twenty volumes, gave the particulars of what happened to these three Rover boys while attending Putnam Hall Military Academy, Brill College, and while on numerous outings in this country and abroad. Having finished their education, the three young men established themselves in business and became married. Later Dick Rover was blessed with a son and a daughter, as was also his brother Sam, while the fun-loving Tom became the father of a pair of lively twin boys.
From their homes in New York City the four Rover boys were sent to a boarding school, as related in the first volume of the Second Series, entitled “The Rover Boys at Colby Hall,” wherethey made many friends, also a few enemies. From that school the scene was shifted to “Snowshoe Island,” where the boys spent a winter outing, and then they rejoined their fellow cadets in some strenuous happenings while “Under Canvas.” Then in “The Rover Boys on a Hunt” they uncovered the mystery surrounding a lonely house in the woods.
The older Rovers had become interested in oil, and in the next volume, entitled “The Rover Boys in the Land of Luck,” I related how the lads went to Texas and Oklahoma. Then one of their chums asked them to take a vacation in the West, and in the volume preceding this and called “At Big Horn Ranch” they had the time of their lives.
In the present story the scene is shifted back to Colby Hall and then to some rival camps on the edge of a big lake. What happened to the boys I will leave the pages which follow to relate.
As many of my readers know, the sale of this line of books has now passed thethree millionmark. To me this is as wonderful as it is pleasing. I earnestly hope that the reading of these volumes will do all of the boys and girls good.
Affectionately and sincerely yours,
Edward Stratemeyer.