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At the cry of "Police!" the crowd had seemed to melt away from

him like the bank fog at the sweep of a breeze. A dozen comrades

had seized the prostrate Jean and hurried him away, and Pete,

with the instinct of self-preservation, had snatched up his

clothes and dodged down a dark alley toward the dirty

drinking-shops along the water-front.

There, as he dressed himself, he first asked the question, "Where

is Code?"

Then, in a frenzy of remorse, he returned to the street and began

a wild and fruitless search all night. Then he accidentally

learned that the Nettie B. had been in port two days and that her

crew had been ashore on the night of the fracas.

Sorrowful, bedraggled, and bruised, he rowed out to the _Charming

Lass_ just as the whole crew was setting out for shore to search

for Code and himself.