E-text prepared by David Edwards, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from digital material generously made available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 30841-h.htm or 30841-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/30841/pg30841-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30841/30841-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See http://www.archive.org/details/roverboysinlando00winfiala THE ROVER BOYS IN THE LAND OF LUCK Or Stirring Adventures in the Oil Fields by ARTHUR M. WINFIELD (Edward Stratemeyer) Author of "The Rover Boys at School," "The Rover Boys on the Ocean," "The Rover Boys on a Hunt." "The Putnam Hall Series," Etc. Illustrated New York Grosset & Dunlap Publishers Made in the United States of America [Illustration: "THEY'VE STRUCK OIL!" YELLED ANDY EXCITEDLY.] INTRODUCTION My Dear Boys: This book is a complete story in itself, but forms the fifth volume in a line issued under the general title, "The Second Rover Boys Series for Young Americans." As mentioned in some volumes of the first series, this line 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 relatives. The volumes of the first series related the doings of these three Rover boys while at Putnam Hall Military Academy, Brill College, and while on numerous outings. Having acquired a good education, the three young men established themselves in business in New York and became married. Dick Rover was blessed with a son and a daughter, as was likewise his brother Sam, while Tom Rover became the proud father of twin boys. As the four lads were all of a decidedly lively disposition, it was thought best to send them to a boarding school, and in the first volume of the second series, entitled "The Rover Boys at Colby Hall," I related what happened to them while attending this institution. From Colby Hall the scene was shifted to "Snowshoe Island," where the lads went for a mid-Winter outing. Then they came back to Colby Hall, and what happened to them at the annual encampment of the young cadets is related in the third volume, entitled "The Rover Boys Under Canvas." When Winter was once more at hand the younger Rovers thought they would like to go on another outing with their chums, and in a volume entitled "The Rover Boys on a Hunt" I related how they came upon a mysterious house in the forest and uncovered a most unusual mystery. In the present volume the scene is shifted from stirring doings at Colby Hall to still more stirring doings in the famous oil fields in the southern part of our country.