"
"We'll catch him, come morning," was the assurance, and then Blount went
away and carried out his original intention of going to the
Inter-Mountain and to bed.
To bed; but, for a long hour after the post-midnight quiet had settled
down upon the great hostelry, not to sleep. If he had asked himself why
he could not close his eyes and take the needed rest, the exciting
incident in which he had lately been an actor would have offered a
sufficient answer. But in reality the sharpened spur of wakefulness
penetrated much more deeply. Beyond all doubt or shadow of doubt, it was
the sinister, many-armed machine which had reached out to seize and
destroy the evidence against its allies and fellow conspirators, the
lawbreaking railroad company and the vote-selling corporations.
And, again beyond doubt, he made sure, it was his own boast made to his
father which had been passed on to tell the sham burglar where to look
and what to look for.
XVII
ON THE KNEES OF THE HIGH GODS
In the evening of the day following the safe-blowing in Blount's office,
a one-car train, running as second section of the Overland, slipped
unostentatiously into the capital railroad yard. With as little stir as
it had made in its arrival, the single-car train took a siding below the
freight station, where it would be concealed from the prying eyes of any
chance prowler from the newspaper offices.
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