e must be miles away--too far, at any rate, to be overtaken.
Overtaken? He smiled sardonically. Not one of them, he knew, would lift
a finger to prevent him from going. He could just as well set out in the
daytime. But his pride shrank from the relieved faces and grudging
farewells that would signalize his departure. No; it would be far better
to slip away by night, without saying anything to anybody. But his going
must be unobserved. It would be humiliating to be detected.

Cautiously he crept out of his bunk and pulled on his clothes, stopping
apprehensively to listen for the regular breathing of his sleeping
mates. But no one woke. The dying embers snapped in the stove. Nemo,
slumbering on his canvas, stirred uneasily. Yet, so stealthy were
Percy's movements, not even the dog's keen ears telegraphed them to his
alert brain.

A few minutes sufficed for the deserter to dress and crowd his more
valuable belongings into a suit-case. Noiselessly he lifted the latch
and stepped outside.

It was a lovely summer night. A southwest breeze barely rippled the
sheet of sapphire under the radiant stars. Tiny wavelets broke crisply
on the pebbled beach. From the boulders that fringed the point came the
drowsy murmur of the surf. A sheep bleated plaintively high above in the
pasture; while far over the ocean to the south floated the faint, weird
cry of a gull.

The tide was more than half down, and dory and pea-pod lay high and dry
on the shingle. The sloop rode at her mooring in the cove. Percy
hesitated. Her engine would take him to Head Harbor in less than two
hours, and save him a long, hard row. But no. Her absence would
interfere seriously with pulling the trawls and lose Spurling & Company
a good many dollars. Bitter though his feelings were, he did not wish to
cause financial loss. He decided on the pea-pod.

Ten feet of gravel lay between her stern and the water. Grasping her
gunwale, Percy dragged her inch by inch gratingly down over the shingle,
every sound magnified to his ears by his dread of discovery. He worked
with the caution of an escaping convict. Now and then he glanced
nervously toward the cabin, but from its gloomy interior came no sign
that he was seen or heard. Apparently Spurling and his mates were
sleeping the sleep of the dead. At the end of five minutes the pea-pod
was afloat.

Percy tossed in his suit-case and clambered hastily aboard. There was no
time to waste. He wished to put as much salt wat