The Rover Boys on Land and Sea | Page 4

The meal over the boys took it easy for a couple of hours, and then
prepared to go out and visit half a dozen points of interest and also
purchase tickets for a performance at one of the leading theaters in the
evening.
As they crossed the lobby of the hotel they almost ran into a big, burly
young fellow who was coming in the opposite direction.
"Dan Baxter!" ejaculated Dick. "Then I was right after all."
The burly young fellow stared first at Dick and then the others in blank
amazement. He carried a dress-suit case, and this dropped from his
hand to the floor.
"Whe--where did yo--you come from?" he stammered at last.
"I guess we can ask the same question," said Tom coldly.
"Been following me, have you?" sneered Dan Baxter, making an effort
to recover his self-possession.
"No, we haven't been following you," said Sam.
"Supposing you tell us how it happens that you are here?"
"Suppose you tell us how it happens that you are here," came from

Dick.
"That is my business."
"Our business is our own, too, Dan Baxter."
"You followed me," growled the big bully, his face darkening. "I know
you and don't you forget it."
"Why should we follow you?" said Tom. "We got the best of you over
that treasure in the Adirondacks."
"Oh, you needn't blow. Remember the old saying, 'He laughs best who
laughs last.' I aint done with you yet--not by a long shot."
"Well, let me warn you to keep your distance," said Dick sternly. "If
you don't, you'll regret it. We have been very easy with you in the past,
but if you go too far, I, for one, will be for putting you where your
father is, in prison."
"And I say the same," said Tom.
"Ditto here," came from Sam.
At these words a look of bitter hatred crossed Dan Baxter's face. He
clenched his fists and breathed hard.
"You can brag when you are three to one," he cried fiercely. "But wait,
that's all. My father would be a free man if it wasn't for you. Wait, and
see what I do!"
And so speaking he caught up his dress-suit case, swung around on his
heel, and left the hotel before anybody could stop him.
"He's the same old Baxter," said Tom, with a long sigh. "Always going
to square up."
"I think he is more vindictive than he used to be," observed Sam.
"When Dick spoke about his father being in prison he looked as if he

would like to strangle the lot of us."
"Well, I admit it would be rough on any ordinary boy to mention the
fact that his father was in prison," said Dick. "But we all know, and
Dan Baxter himself knows, that one is about as wicked as the other.
The only thing that makes Arnold Baxter's case worse is that he is old
enough to know better."
"So is Dan old enough to know better," was Tom's comment.
"I believe he was coming here to get accommodations," said Dick.
"If he was, that would tend to prove that he had just arrived in San
Francisco, Dick."
"True. But he may have been in this vicinity, perhaps in Oakland,
Alameda, or some other nearby town."
"What do you suppose could have brought him here?"
"That's a conundrum. Maybe he thought the East was getting too hot to
hold him."
"I wish we knew where he was going."
"Let us see if we can follow him up."
But to follow Dan Baxter up was out of the question, as they speedily
discovered when they stepped out on the sidewalk. People were
hurrying in all directions, and the bully had been completely swallowed
up in the crowd.
"We must watch out," said Dick. "Now he knows we are here he will
try to do us harm, mark my words."
The walk that afternoon proved full of interest, and in the evening they
went to see a performance of a light opera at the Columbia Theater.
The performance gave them a good deal of pleasure.

"Quarter past eleven!" exclaimed Dick, when they were coming away.
"That's the time we got our money's worth."
"I thought it must be late," said Tom. "I was getting hungry. Let us get
a bite of something before we go back to the hotel."
The others were willing, and they entered a nearby restaurant and
seated themselves at one of the tables. As they did this, a person who
had been following them stopped at the door to peer in after them. The
person was Dan Baxter.
"They are going to dine before retiring," he muttered to himself. "The
Old Nick take the luck! They have all the good times, while I have only
the bad!"