He drew down his plaid cap which matched so well the suit of tweeds, lowered his chin and followed the turnkey out into the glad light of dawning day and across the stone-flagged yard to MacKeenon’s side.
A prison clerk—one of those rat-eyed trusties whom nobody trusts—hurried out from the Principal Keeper’s office with an oblong of printed paper. He passed this release to MacKeenon.
The inspector signed it with the butt of a badly chewed indelible pencil, glanced at Fay, then said distinctly—too distinctly:
“A receipt for C-45. Yea, he may b’back. Ye canna tell!�
To the man who had prowled the world like a tiger
a jungle—to the third cracksman living who could open a modern cannon-ball safe or stop the four circular tumblers of a strong-box in their correct position—this sly aside of MacKeenon’s was enlightening. The old gray dog, whose scent was keener than a Louisiana bloodhound’s, was baying down the trail again for some wolf-pack of the underworld.
Chester Fay set his pale face and fingered his cravat. He dropped his hands to his side and followed the inspector out through a rising gate, where the two men stood facing the misted moorland and the spiring towers of Princetown beyond the causeway. As they stood there a clang sounded behind. It was the turnkey bringing down the shutter of iron.
A sleeve-valved motor, black, tired with steel-studded rubber, throbbing with life and a desire to roll up the road, stood close at hand. Into the tonneau of this car MacKeenon tossed the kit-bag and overcoat, then turned and assisted Fay to mount the running-board, where he had hesitated for the minutest fraction of a second.
Liberty was over that causeway. Freedom might be gained by a try at the marshes and moorland. The mist was almost thick enough to hide in. The world beyond was very wide indeed. The chance which offered might never come again. Fay had lost opportunity too often not to weigh well the one that came to him.
He felt the Inspector’s fingers on his sleeve. They seemed gentle. There was that, however, in the gripping mystery of his release that savored of things to come.