ering we are bound
for. No--Billy is right. We must not imagine the _Dawn_ isn't on our
heels, even now. In any event, he would be setting out for the Kuriles
to pick up the seal-herds, about this time; and, knowing Carew as we
do, we may prophesy that he will try to find our island. Indeed, the
man may have already run across Fire Mountain during his excursions in
those waters--he may know its position as well as we do. He'll try to
poach on our preserve, no fear.

"That ambergris would represent the profits of a score of
seal-raids--and besides, there is you, Ruth, drawing him like a
lodestone. His attempt to shanghai you, back there in Frisco, shows
the temper of the man. If we meet the _Dawn_ up north, and I have a
hunch we shall meet her, we want to keep our eyes open. Meanwhile, we
want to make a smart passage, and get there first, and away. We want
to carry on--by the Lord, crack on to the limit!"

"If it has come to a race, Carew's schooner has the heels of us,"
observed Little Billy.

"Yes, the _Dawn_ is the better sailer," reluctantly admitted the
captain. "If the _Cohasset_ were ten years younger, I wouldn't admit
it, but the old girl isn't quite as limber as she used to be. But the
log line isn't everything in an ocean race. I know Bob Carew is a good
seaman, but I'll show him a trick or two this passage, for all that I'm
a blind man!"

"I hope we don't meet him up north. I am afraid," muttered Ruth.

"But haven't you considered that the police may have grabbed Carew, and
the rest of that gang, for their part in that street fight?" broke in
Martin. "Of course, I didn't see the finish of that affair, but I
remember that I saw the police coming just before I fell."

"The police! Lay Carew by the heels!" The captain shook his head.
"No such good luck, I'm afraid. Trust Carew to win clear of the police
every time."

"And if they did grab him, you may trust Lawyer Smatt to have procured
his release, at least upon bail, ere now. There is the hope, of
course, that when you, Martin, shied that gun into his face, he was
badly injured," said Little Billy.

"Oh, I hope not!" ejaculated Martin.

"We hope so," went on Little Billy. "If you had killed him, you would
have rendered mankind a service. No such luck, though--the devil never
fails to look after his own. He may not have even been stunned. The
bosun did not see what happened after you fell--he picked you up and
turned tail and ra