"Did you give the general the paper?" asked Chester.

"Yes. Any one come out of the house?"

"I haven't seen any one, and I have been right here all the time you
were gone."

"Hear any sounds from within?"

"Thought I did several times, but I couldn't be sure. Thought I heard a
shot once."

"Well, we had better go and have a look. I don't believe they will harm
Uncle John, but he probably is beginning to be worried by this time."

He led the way and Chester followed him. Hal mounted the steps without
hesitancy and turned the knob of the door. The door opened and the lad
stepped inside, where he halted with a cry of surprise. Chester peered
over his shoulder.

"Looks like a cyclone had struck this place," Hal ejaculated.

It did indeed. Robard was lying upon the floor, with a man on either side
of him, and a fourth lay some distance away, his skull crushed in.

"Uncle John probably was the cyclone," said Chester briefly. "I have
heard that he used to be considerable of a fighter in his younger days."

"And still he could hardly have done all this," said Hal.