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