with Alan they would include her ruthlessly in whatsoever scheme they might contemplate for his personal extermination. Nor would Tom Barcus be exempt, though Judith might be, in view of Marrophat's infatuation for the girl.
These two were far ahead and must somehow be overtaken and warned—no easy matter, since the machine which bore them was faster than Alan's, just as the racing automobile was faster than either. From its jog-trot the cycle swept into its greatest speed: ventre-à-terre, ears back, tail a-stream, it roared down the road at such speed as tore the very breath from the lips of those whom it carried.
Alan kept his gaze steadfast to the road, for at such frightful speed as they were now making the slightest obstruction was fraught with direst peril. Now on one hand, now on the other, now on both, the hillsides fell away in such steep declivities as almost to deserve the name of cliffs, as the road wound its serpentine way through the heart of these desolate, silent mountains.
Then catastrophe befell. …
Round the swelling bosom of a wooded mountain-side the motor-cycle swept like a hunted hare, and without the least warning came upon Barcus and Judith, dismounted, Barcus bending over his cycle and tinkering with its motor. For an instant collision seemed unavoidable. Barcus and Judith and
