The Rover Boys in Camp | Page 7

not tell what had aroused him. Then he remembered hearing the slam of
a door or a window sash.
"Must have been the storm," he told himself, and was about to turn over
and go to sleep when he heard a gun-shot from the direction of the
barn.
"Something is wrong, that's certain!" he cried. "Sam, wake up!"
"What's the row, Tom?" questioned the youngest brother sleepily.
Before Tom could reply they heard Dick getting up, and also their
Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha.
"What did that shot mean?" demanded Randolph Rover, coming toward
the boys' rooms. "Did any of you fire it?"
"No, it came from outside," returned Torn. "Hark!"
"Hullo, in the house!" came in the voice of Jack Ness. "Wake up,
everybody! Something is wrong!"
After this it did not take long for those upstairs to slip into some
clothing, and go below. Randolph Rover ran to the side door, to find it
wide open. Dick lit the hall lamp.
"Saw a man running across the garden," said Jack Ness, who had his
shot-gun with him. "I yelled to him to stop, and then fired the gun. I
think he came from the house."
"How did you happen to be up?" asked Sam.

"One of the horses is sick, and I was attending to him."
By this time some of the others were looking into the various rooms.
"The desk has been broken open!" cried Dick. "And the pantry in the
corner, too!"
"Mercy, save us!" shrieked Mrs. Rover, from the kitchen. "Come here
at once. Poor Anderson has been killed!"
"Killed!" gasped Tom; and then all ran to the kitchen as quickly as they
could.
They found Anderson Rover lying where he had fallen, and still
unconscious. There was a lump on his forehead, and a thin stream of
blood trickled down one side of his face.
"Thank heaven, he is not dead!" murmured Dick, as he knelt beside his
father. "But he has been struck some cruel blows. Somebody fetch
water and a bandage."
The water was procured, and also a bandage, and under skillful
treatment, Anderson Rover was presently restored to consciousness.
"Where--where is he?" he questioned, when he could speak.
"Do you mean the person who struck you down?" asked Dick.
"Ye--yes."
"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