Mining Alapertane harbor and Mowry's escape is an episode of sabotage and flight in which Mowry places delayed limpet mines on two ships, then loses his car and has to evade pursuit by changing vehicles and, finally, traveling on foot. The mines are set for twenty hours rather than immediate detonation; the account shows their careful placement, but does not report whether they later explode. His escape similarly remains a matter of successive improvisations, ending with his entry into the forest as daylight grows.

The harbor operation

Mowry goes straight to the waterfront without stopping for food. He leaves the dyno in a shipping company's private car park and approaches the first dock on foot, where a policeman is standing by the gate. Once inside, he moves quickly toward a long shed, with cranes and funnels rising behind it. Rounding the shed, he comes face to face with the stern of the Su-cattra. The approach is practical rather than spectacular: he uses the dock buildings and the narrow strip of water between ship and shore to get close to his target.

From a case in a shed whose doors face the middle of the Su-cattra, Mowry takes a limpet mine. He sets its timing switch to a twenty-hour delay and threads thin cord through the holding loop. Then he steps outside, crosses the ten yards to the water, and drops the mine into the narrow gap alongside the ship. It sinks to the end of the cord, about eight feet below the surface, but does not immediately attach. Mowry works the cord to turn the mine's magnetic face toward the vessel; it catches with a clang that resounds across the ship. He then releases one end of the cord and pulls on the other. The placement depends on a small adjustment beneath the water, and the noise makes that adjustment anything but silent.

Soon afterward, Mowry repeats the operation on the Su-limane, placing a second mine amidships, also eight feet down and set for a twenty-hour delay. The repeated clang accompanies a second placement. These details establish the scope and method of the harbor action: two vessels are mined separately, and neither device is described as detonating during the episode. The delayed timers leave the threat in place beyond the moment of installation, while the narrative stays with Mowry's immediate problem of getting away.

The escape breaks down and changes course

The escape does not proceed on the vehicle plan Mowry had relied on. The missing car is found, and those who discover it transmit the news and summon help to surround it. The narration presents the discovery as another adverse turn, closing off an important means of movement and forcing Mowry into a tighter position. His preparation at the waterfront has not secured a clean retreat: after the sabotage, the loss of the car becomes a separate emergency.

Mowry responds by taking a cruiser. He listens to the faint scuffle of his own feet as he approaches, then calmly gets into the vehicle, sits behind the wheel, closes the doors, and starts its dynomotor. Nearby, an irate policeman is yelling at a frightened passenger on a bus while two other officers are there with him. The scene sets the conspicuous commotion on the bus against Mowry's controlled departure in the cruiser. His escape depends not on overcoming the police directly but on leaving while their attention is elsewhere.

Pursuit, interruption, and retreat to the forest

Driving away, Mowry gives his attention to making the best speed he can. Twenty-five den from Alapertane, the radio yelps as Pertane's long-range transmitter broadcasts. Later, a check of the earth terminal produces no expected thin thread of blue light. The absence signifies that the capital's power broadcast has been cut off; within a considerable radius of Pertane, cars have been halted, with police and Kaitempi cruisers among the vehicles involved. This interruption changes the conditions of movement around the capital, adding a wider transport disruption to the local search already surrounding Mowry.

The account also indicates that the pursuit is being directed toward a position four hours ahead of where Mowry actually is, so his pursuers are likely to search farther afield. The discrepancy makes the escape more than a contest of speed: the location being sought and Mowry's true position have diverged. The narrative does not spell out every step by which he reaches the forest, but its final image confirms that he gets there and makes progress as daylight grows.

Outcome and significance

Mowry enters the forest tired and hungry. He has to rest for ten minutes in every hour, yet continues as fast as he can. That ending measures the cost of the flight without resolving the harbor operation's eventual result. The mines have been placed, the original car has been lost, a cruiser has provided temporary mobility, and the journey ends on foot. The episode's momentum comes from this chain of substitutions: a planned vehicle gives way to a stolen one, and the vehicle escape in turn gives way to a strenuous retreat through the forest.