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.