"Then that chase is done for," said Dick, "and we shall have to pocket our loss."
The detective was chagrined to think that he had tracked Dan Baxter only to lose him, and promised to see if anything more could be done in the matter.
But nothing could be done, as there was no telling when the Golden
Wave would arrive at Australia, and what port the craft would first make.
"We have seen the last of Dan Baxter," said Sam.
But the youngest Rover was mistaken. They were to meet the bully again, and under circumstances as astonishing as they were perilous.
CHAPTER IV
GOOD TIMES AT SANTA BARBARA
"What a land of plenty!"
It was Tom who made the remark.
The Rover boys were on their way to Santa Barbara, after having spent three weeks at San Francisco and vicinity. They had received word that Dora Stanhope and her mother and the two Laning girls were at the fashionable watering place, and they were anxious to meet their old friends.