A scattered shower of missiles came aboard as the strikers kept pace with the steamer to the end of the slip, exciting the fishermen, who had again mounted the rigging, to a simian frenzy. Oaths, insults, and jeers were hurled back and forth; but as the big steamer gathered momentum and slid out of her berth, they grew gradually more indistinct, until at last they became muffled, broken, and meaningless. Even then the rival ranks continued to volley profanely at each other, while the Captain, with hand on the whistle-rope, blew taunting blasts; nor did the fishermen descend from their perches until the forms on the dock had blurred together and the city lay massed in the distance, tier upon tier, against the gorgeous evening sky. CHAPTER XIX IN WHICH A MUTINY IS THREATENED Even after they were miles down the Sound, Boyd remained at his post, sweeping the waters astern in an anxious search for some swift harbor craft, the appearance of which would signal that his escape had been discovered. "I won't feel safe until we are past Port Townsend," he confessed to Cherry, who maintained a position at his side. "Why Port Townsend? We don't stop there." "No. But the police can wire on from Seattle to stop us and take me off at that point." "If they find out their mistake." "They must have found it out long ago. That's why I've got Peasley forcing this old tub; she's doing ten knots, and that's a breakneck speed for her. Once we're through the Straits, I'll be satisfied. But meanwhile--" Emerson lowered his glasses with a sigh of fatigue, and in the soft twilight the girl saw that his face was lined and careworn. The yearning at her heart lent poignant sympathy to her words, as she said: "You deserve to win, Boyd; you have made a good fight." "Oh, I'll win!" he declared, wearily. "I've got to win; only I wish we were past Port Townsend." "What will happen to Fraser?" she queried. "Nothing serious, I am sure. You see, they wanted me, and nobody else; once they find they have the wrong man I rather believe they will free him in disgust." A moment later he went on: "Just the same, it makes me feel depressed and guilty to leave him--I--I wouldn't desert a comrade for anything if the choice lay with me." "You did quite right," Cherry warmly assured him. "You see, I am not working for myself; I am doing this for another."