“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!”

Dan Baxter had followed the boys from the hotel to the theater and had also waited around for them to come out.  He wanted to “square up” with them, but had no definite plan of action, and was trusting to luck for something to turn up in his favor.

He had drifted to the West for a double reason.  The one was, as the boys had surmised, because the East seemed to be getting too hot to hold him.  His second reason was that he hoped to get passage on some vessel bound for Sydney, Australia.  He had a distant relative in Australia, and thought that if he could only see that relative personally he might be able to get some money.  He was nearly out of funds, and so far the relative, although rich, had refused to send any money by mail or express.

“They have everything they want, while I have nothing,” he went on savagely.  “And they don’t deserve it, either.  Oh, how I wish I could wring their necks for ’em!”

Suddenly an idea struck him and without waiting for the boys to come out of the restaurant he hopped on board of a street car running in the direction of the Oakland House.  Entering the hotel office he asked to look at the register.

“Room 324,” he said to himself.  “That is on the third floor, I suppose, since they generally start a new hundred for every floor.  Wonder if I can get up without being noticed?”

He watched his chance, and slipping past the bell boys, made his way up the stairs, which, on account of the elevators, were but little used.  In a few minutes he was in front of the door to Room 324.  He tried it cautiously, to find it locked.