As for Tom and Sam, they had taken to the two Laning girls from the start, and though Tom was too full of fun to pay much attention to girls, yet whenever Nellie was mentioned, he would grow red in the face; and it was noticed that whenever Grace was present Sam was usually on hand to keep her company.
The treasure unearthed on Treasure Isle had belonged to the Stanhope estate, the bulk of it going to Mrs.Stanhope and Dora and the remainder to the Lanings, because Mrs.Laning was Mrs.Stanhope's sister.

But the treasure had been claimed by a certain rascal named Sid Merrick and his nephew, Tad Sobber, and when Merrick lost his life during a hurricane at sea, Sobber continued to do all he could to get the money and jewels into his possession.
"It's mine!" he told Dick Rover one day.

"It's mine, all mine, and some day I'm going to get it!" "You keep on, Tad Sobber, and some day you'll land in prison," had been Dick's answer.

"We found that treasure, and the courts have decided that it belongs to the Stanhope estate, and you had better keep your hands off." But Tad Sobber was not satisfied, and soon he made a move that caused the worst kind of trouble.

There was a learned but unscrupulous man named Josiah Crabtree who had once been a teacher at Putnam Hall, but who had been discharged and who had, later on, been sent to prison for his misdeeds.