From Colby Hall the scene was shifted to Snowshoe Island, where the lads went for a mid-winter outing. Here they ran into a most unusual mystery, and helped an old lumberman to establish his claim to the island.
In the present volume the boys are back at Colby Hall, but it is time for the annual encampment of the military school, and soon they depart for a brief season "Under Canvas." This is at the time of the World War, and the lads get mixed up in the mystery surrounding a wrecked submarine. What this led to, I leave for the pages which follow to relate.
In conclusion I wish to thank my numerous readers for all the nice things they have said about my books. I trust the reading of the volumes will do all of them good.
Affectionately and sincerely yours, EDWARD STRATEMEYER.
"Give him a swift one, Dink! Don't let him hit it!"
"Oh, dear, I do hope Jack scores!" came in a sweet, girlish voice.
"Of course he'll score!" returned a youth sitting near the girl who had made the remark. "He's been holding back for just this chance."
"Oh, do you think so?" asked another girl in the grandstand.
"Surest thing ever was," was the airy rejoinder. "This is the time we're going to show the Hixley boys what's what."
"Not on your life!" bellowed a heavy voice from the rear. "Here is where Colby Hall gets snowed under."
Then came a series of yells, followed by the tooting of horns and the sounding of rattles, making a din that was almost ear-splitting.
The occasion was the annual baseball game between Hixley High and Colby Hall. It had been scheduled to take place on the high-school athletic field, but at almost the last minute this field had been declared out of condition, and it had been decided to hold the contest on the athletic grounds attached to the military academy.
Hixley High was very anxious to win this game. During the previous fall, as related in a former volume of this series, the high-school lads had lost the annual football game with Colby Hall by a single touchdown. This defeat still rankled in their minds, and they were determined if possible to take the baseball game by a score that should be well worth while.
And they had good reason to be hopeful of doing this. While their football team had always been considered by the other teams of that locality to be of the "second string variety," the baseball nine was a remarkably strong organization. At its head was Dink Wilsey, a pitcher who was destined at some time in the future to show himself in one of the big leagues.