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.

"Here, get into this and go down-stairs. At the corner above, you'll
find a two-seated motor-car backed against the curb. Do you know enough
about machinery to start an auto-engine?"

Gryson nodded again. "I'd ought to, seein' that I've been a gang boss in
a shop that made 'em."

"Good enough; crank the motor, climb in, and wait. I'll do the rest."

Five minutes later, Blount had stumbled out of the elevator at the
ground-floor and was groping his way along the sidewalk toward the
corner--groping because the pain had become blinding again and the
street-lights were taking on many-colored and fantastic brilliancies.

When he finally found the car, it was mainly by the sense of hearing;
the motor was drumming softly under the hood, and there was a blur in
the mechanician's seat which answered for the crouching figure of the
ward-worker. By a supreme effort of will Blount swung himself up behind
the steering-wheel and let the clutch in. Luckily, the street was clear
of vehicles and he made the turn in safety; but fully realizing his
handicap, he steered straight away from the business district, and
making a wide circuit through the residence quarter, brought the car out
in the eastern suburb at the beginning of a road paralleling the
Transcontinental tracks.

With the lights of the city dropping away to the rear, and the drumming
motor quickened to racing speed, he told the fugitive from justice what
was