Blount drove the road-car all the way around the Capitol grounds to come into his office street inconspicuously.  Across from the Temple Court the fire ruins were still smouldering, and there was an acrid odor of stale smoke in the air.  For a full third of the block the street was littered with debris.  Blount stopped his machine at the nearest corner and got out to reconnoitre the office-building entrance.  In the vestibule he glanced up at the face of the illuminated wall-clock, making a hasty calculation based upon the leaving time of the east-bound Overland.  There were fifty minutes to spare, and when he reached his office, and had turned on the desk-light and dropped heavily into his chair, he called up the railroad station to inquire about the train.  The Overland was reported ten minutes late.  If Gryson should show up in time, this earliest outgoing train must be made to serve as the means for his flight.

Blount had scarcely formulated the condition when the office-door winged noiselessly, and the man himself, hollow-eyed and haggard, stumbled in.  As once before, Blount got up and went to shut the door and lock it.  When he came back, Gryson had taken his seat in a chair at the desk-end, where the light from the shaded working-lamp fell upon his sinister face.

“Well, I’ve been all th’ way t’ hell and back ag’in,” he announced in a grating whisper.  “They’ve put th’ reward out, and three times since last night some of me own pals ’ve tried to snitch on me.”  Then he drew a carefully wrapped package from its hiding-place under his coat and laid it on the desk.  “It’s all there,” he went on in the same rasping undertone.  “Some of ’em give up to get square wit’ th’ bosses, and some of ’em had to have a gun shoved in their faces.  No matter; they’ve come across—­the last damn’ wan of ’em; and th’ affidavits are there, too—­when I c’d get next to a dub of a not’ry that’d make ’em.”

Blount did not untie the package, nor did he cross-examine the traitor.  His head was throbbing again almost unbearably, and he was beginning to fear that he might not last to carry out the plan of safe-conduct for the informer.  Slipping the precious package into an inner pocket of the enveloping coat, he took a compact roll of bank-bills from a drawer in the desk and gave it to Gryson, saying tersely:  “That isn’t a bribe, you understand; it’s merely to help you make your getaway.  Can you manage to ride on Transcontinental trains without being recognized offhand?”

Gryson pulled a false beard from his pocket and showed it.  “Wit’ that, and me old hat, I’ve been keepin’ most o’ th’ boys from tippin’ me off,” he said.

“All right; here’s the lay-out.  You have earned immunity, so far as this latest raid on you is concerned, by turning State’s evidence.  But you’ve got to move on, and keep moving.  Do you get that?”

The fugitive nodded, and Blount got up to stagger across to the office wardrobe, from which he took the extra rain-coat kept there for emergencies.