“He is a world-emperor, and his few associates are princes of the royal house.  Your life and thought have forever broken with him.  No more can bonds and ties of blood hold you.  Your larger duty calls to battle against this man.  Treachery?  A thousand times, no!  Treason to tyrants is obedience to God!  Or, if not God, then to mankind!”

He paused and looked at her.  They had now reached a little park, some half mile from the grim and dour old walls of the Federal Pen.  Trees and grass and playing children seemed to invite them to stop and rest.  Though strong, moreover, Gabriel had for so long been unused to walking, that even this short distance had tired him a little.  And the oppressive heat had them both by the throat.

“Shall we sit down here and wait a little?” asked he.  “Plan a little, see where we are and what’s to be done next?”

She nodded assent.

“Of course,” she said, “even if I could have got word in to you, I wouldn’t have given you our real plans.”

“Hardly!” he exclaimed.  Then, coming to a fountain, they sat down on a bench close by.  Nobody, they made sure, was within ear-shot.

“Thank God,” he breathed, “that you, Kate, and only you, met me as I came out!  It was a grand good idea, wasn’t it, to keep my time of liberation a secret from the comrades?  Otherwise there might have been a crowd on hand, and various kinds of foolishness; and time and energy would have been used that might have been better spent in working for the Revolution!”

She looked at him a trifle curiously.

“You forget,” said she, “that all public meetings have been prohibited, ever since last April.  Federal statute—­the new Penfield Bill—­’The Muzzler’ as we call it.”

“That’s so!” he murmured.  “I forgot.  Fact is, Kate, I am out of touch with things.  While you’ve been fighting, I’ve been buried alive.  Now, I must learn much, before I can jump back into the war again.  And above all, I must lose my identity.  That’s the first and most essential thing of all!”

“Of course,” she assented.  “They—­the Air Trust World-corporation—­will trail you, everywhere you go.  All this, as you know, has been provided for.  You must vanish a while.”

“Indeed I must.  If they ‘jobbed’ me like that, in 1921, what won’t they do now in 1925?”

“They won’t ever get you, again, Gabriel,” she answered, “if your wits and ours combined, can beat them.  True, the Movement has been badly shot to pieces.  That is, its visible organization has suffered, and it’s outlawed.  But under the surface, Gabriel, you haven’t an idea of its spread and power.  It’s tremendous—­it’s a volcano waiting to burst!  Let the moment come, the leader rise, the fire burst forth, and God knows what may not happen!”