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A USELESS PURSUIT
25

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