"You are Richard Rover?" queried the operator, and looked at Snuggers, who nodded. "You came here just in time, then." The telegraph operator brought the message forth, and Dick tore it open with a hand that trembled in spite of his efforts to control it. He felt instinctively that something was wrong. The telegram was from Mrs. Randolph Rover, and ran as follows: "Come home at once. Your father and uncle attacked by unknown rascal who tried to ransack house. Uncle seriously hurt. "Martha Rover." Dick's heart seemed to stop beating as he read the lines. "Attacked by rascal who tried to ransack the house," he murmured. "It must have been Arnold Baxter." "No bad news, I trust, Master Dick," observed Snuggers. "Yes, Peleg, very bad. Take this back to the Hall and give it to my brothers, and tell them I am going to Ithaca by the first boat, and there take the midnight train for home. Tell them to explain to Captain Putnam and then to follow me. Do you understand?" "Well--I--er--I guess I do," stammered the workingman. "Be you going home, then?" "At once." Dick turned to the operator. "The boat for Ithaca is almost due, isn't it?" "Yes, sir, in five minutes." "Take me to the wharf, Peleg, and hurry up about it." "Got to go, then?" "I have," and Dick leaped into the carriage. Peleg Snuggers saw that the young cadet was in earnest, and made the boat landing in less than three minutes. The Sylvan Dell, a companion boat to the Morning Star, was on time, and Dick soon found himself on board and bound for Ithaca. He was too excited to keep quiet, and began to pace the boat from stem to stern. "What's up, my lad?" asked the captain, as he looked at the youth curiously. "I am in a hurry to get home, sir." "Well, I'm afraid tramping around won't hurry matters any," and Captain Miller smiled broadly. "Do you object to my walking around?" asked Dick, somewhat sharply. "Oh, no; go ahead. I hope you haven't heard any bad news," went on the captain kindly. "But I have heard bad news. My father and my uncle were attacked by some man who tried to ransack the house. My uncle was seriously hurt." "That's bad. I trust they collared the villain." "No; I guess he got away, for the telegram I received said he was unknown." "It's too bad. Do your folks live in the city?" "No; at a country place called Valley Brook." "Then I doubt if they catch the rascal who did the deed. The country offers too good a chance to escape." "I mean to catch him if I can," said Dick earnestly, and then the captain left him once more to himself. He thought that the boy had rather a large opinion of himself, but did not know that Dick already had a first-class clew to work on. CHAPTER XVI SOMETHING ABOUT THE ECLIPSE MINE "Dick! Oh, how glad I am that you have come!" Mrs. Randolph Rover rushed out to the porch to greet the boy as he came bounding up the steps, two at a time.