“I don’t know.  Got away, I guess.”

“The villain!  He attacked me most foully!”

“I saw him running across the garden,” put in the hired man.  “Did he steal anything?”

“To be sure he stole something,” said Sam.  “He ransacked the whole lower floor, by the looks of things.”

“Wonder who it was?” put in Tom.

“It was Arnold Baxter,” answered his father.

“Arnold Baxter!” cried the others in chorus.

“Are you certain?” asked Dick.

“Yes.  He struck me down, and then lit the bit of tallow candle you see lying there.  Then we struggled, and he hit me again, and that is all I know.  But I am sure it was Baxter, for I spoke to him.  He accused us of having robbed him of that mine out West.”

“Was he alone?” asked Randolph Rover.

“I saw no one else.”

“We ought to follow him up,” declared Tom, now that he realized his father was not so badly hurt as at first feared.

“That’s the talk!” ejaculated Dick.  “Wait till I get my pistol.”

“Boys, do keep out of harm,” pleaded Mrs. Rover.  “Remember that this Arnold Baxter is a desperate criminal.”

“We are not afraid of him,” answered Tom.

“We’ll show him that he can’t
come here and attack father,” added Sam.

Leaving their father in the care of their Aunt Martha, the three Rover boys armed themselves and sallied forth, accompanied by their uncle and Alexander Pop, the latter carrying a horse-pistol of the old-fashioned variety.

“Dat dar Baxter am a rascal of de fust water,” was Aleck’s comment.  “He deserbes to be shot full ob holes, an’ I am de boy to do dat same, if only I gets de chance.”

Jack Ness was closely questioned, and he described the spot where he had last seen the unwelcome midnight visitor.

“He had a bag of something over his shoulder,” he declared.

“Most likely the stuff taken from the house,” declared Dick.

The party crossed the garden patch and then took to the path which ran down toward the river.

Here all was intensely dark, although it had stopped raining, and the wind was trying its best to scatter the heavy clouds that obscured the stars.

“Not a thing to see,” observed Randolph Rover.  “We may as well go back.”

“Let us scatter and make a search,” came from Dick, and his idea was carried out.  But though they tramped the locality for a good half hour the pursuit of Arnold Baxter proved useless.

“He is probably making good use of his time,” was Tom’s comment.  “He knew we would be after him hot-footed, just as soon as we heard of his being here.”

“I’m going to drive over to the railroad station,” said Dick.  “He may hang around and get aboard of the first morning train.”

“Take me along with you,” said Sam, and Dick agreed.  They got Aleck to drive them and took the fastest team the stable afforded.