Jesus therefore, perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Christ had been fully aware all that day of what was going on; and there is more than a possibility that the apostles themselves had been infected with the virus that had seized the crowd.  The Lord counteracted it by compelling the disciples to get into the boat, despite threatening weather, and go back to the other side of the lake  (Matthew 14:22).  Jesus rejected the efforts to make him king, by sending the apostles away and then withdrawing up into the mountain, leaving the vain frenzy of the mob to frustrate itself in the gathering darkness.