SAVED
MY brain reeled as we rushed along the road into Penzance. My forehead
seemed to be encircled with a band of steel. My mouth was so parched
that my tongue rattled against my palate as I tried to speak to Forrest.
My fingers were so cramped with the grip on the steering wheel, a grip
which had never once been relaxed during our five hours' run, that I
could not relinquish my hold. The road became dark, and involuntarily I
cut off the supply of the gas to the motor and brought the car to a
standstill.
"Go on, man! Go on!" shouted Forrest in my ear.
I could only gasp for answer. I felt suddenly sick.
Then Forrest gave proof of his ready common sense. He thrust his hand
into his pocket and produced the bottle of champagne which had been left
over from our lunch, and which he had thoughtfully brought with him in
view of some such eventuality as this. Tearing off the wire he cut the
string. The cork flew out and the liquor creamed from the neck of the
bottle. Pushing up my mask with one hand he held the bottle to my lips
with the other.
I spluttered. I choked. But I drank and I drank again. Never surely was
champagne more grateful or more useful. My strength returned to me
instantaneously. My brain cleared. My eyes saw. My hope returned. I drew
a deep sigh of relief. Forrest handed me the bottle again.
"After you," I said.
He took a drink and then remarked authoritatively, "Finish the bottle."
I obeyed and, draining it, tossed it into the hedge and once more set
the car in motion. If our progress had been speedy before, when we were
once through Penzance, it became absolutely reckless.
My brain was dancing from the effect of the champagne, and a wild
exhilaration throbbed in every artery. The pace was tremendous, and we
had not left Penzance a couple of miles behind us before the fugitives
came once more into view. Now for the first time I could see that we
were holding our own in the race. It may have been that some bearing had
become heated in the car Mannering was driving, for undoubtedly his new
car was more speedy than the old, but it was clear that he could no
longer leave us as he had been able to do in the earlier part of the
chase. If only I could increase ever so slightly the speed of my car, I
felt confident of overtaking him. I motioned to Forrest to bend towards
me, and when his ear was level with my mouth, I asked him to throw
everything which could be got rid of overboard, in order to lighten the
car. He took my meaning at once, and away went the cushions and rugs.
The difference was slight, but still there was a perceptible difference.
At the pace we were now travelling the car rocked from side to side of
the road, and Forrest had to brace himself stiffly against the
foot-board to prevent himself being thrown out. But we were gaining foot
by foot on the fugitives. I felt a thrill of delight when, on reaching
the brow of a hill, I saw the white car only two hundred yards ahead,
and reckoned that in a couple of minutes we should have overtaken them.
But one thing I had overlooked. I became conscious that we should soon
be at the end of our journey, for suddenly I saw the sea on the horizon.
I knew now where we were, knew that the end was in sight. For Mannering
there could be no return, and I shouted aloud with exultation when I
realized it. We drew closer to him, so close that I fancied I could see
his eyes glittering through the mica plate of his mask as he turned to
look at us.
A sudden horror gripped me by the throat. He surely must know as well as
myself that he was near the spot where all roads ended; that we were
barely a mile or two from Land's End. What if he intended to end his
life and his journey together? And what if, not content with destroying
himself, he were to carry with him to destruction the girl who rode
beside him on his car?
We reached within twenty yards of him, and then as if in answer to my
thought, I heard him emit a screech of laughter as his car suddenly shot
away from us, and in half a minute placed him at least a quarter of a
mile ahead. The bitterness of that moment, as my hope died within me, I
can never forget. I only continued the pursuit mechanically.
We thundered through Sennen without pause and so onward until we opened
up the hotel and the stretch of green on the brow of the cliff. Then I
could have shrieked with delight. The white car was standing still and
Mannering had left his seat and was standing by the side. Ten seconds
would have brought us to him. Five passed. He leaped again to his seat,
and as he did so, the white robed figure sprang from the car to the
turf. The Pirate gave a cry of baffled rage. But he had no time to waste
in recovering his escaping victim, for we were within fifty yards of
him. His car leaped forward and, leaving the road, tossed like a boat at
sea over the uneven boulder-strewn turf. We were within five yards of
him, and it was as much as we could manage to do to keep our seats.
Just in time I realized the danger into which we were being unwittingly
drawn, and reversing the gear, I put on both breaks. I was in time, but
only just in time, for we were on a treacherous grassy slope and in
spite of the breaks our car continued to glide forward under the impulse
of the velocity it had attained.
"Jump for your life!" shouted Forrest.
I had wit enough to obey without hesitation.
As I leaped, my eyes were fixed upon Mannering who at that moment had
reached the very edge of the cliff. I saw him disappear, and then I
rolled over on the turf. I was unhurt, and gathering myself together, I
regained my feet just as the car which had carried us so well followed
the maker over the cliff. A dozen paces took me to the spot. I shuddered
as I glanced downwards and saw the fate I had escaped. Two or three
hundred feet below the tide was boiling over the jagged rocks. I fancied
I could discern a few fragments of the white car and that was all.
Not ten seconds before I had seen Mannering wave his hand at us
mockingly as he rode to his death, and I guessed that his intention had
been to lure us on to a common destruction. Once again he had
disappeared, but now I knew it was for all time.
A strange calm came upon me. Straight in front of us the Longships
lighthouse made a pillar of black marble against the huge red disc of
the setting sun. In the far distance the Cassiterides floated cloud-like
on the horizon. I gulped down a sob of thankfulness, for the memory came
upon me that the one whom I loved had been saved by the merest chance
from sharing the fate of the madman who had so unhesitatingly rushed
upon his doom.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Forrest.
"Our work is done," he said, and with an impatient sigh, he took from
his pocket the useless handcuffs and hurled them after the cars. "One
thing we have to be thankful for," he continued, "thank God, Miss
Maitland is safe."
For reply, I could only grasp his hands and wring them silently. As I
did so, I became conscious that a number of excited people had gathered
about us.
"Where--where is she?" I gasped.
Some one pointed to the hotel a hundred yards or so distant, and Forrest
and I hurried towards it. I was a prey to the most horrible anxiety. I
dreaded to contemplate what the result upon the mind of my darling might
be. I had nearly reached the hotel door, when I saw a slight figure step
across the threshold and shade her eyes with her hand. With a cry of
delight I sprang forward.
The next moment Evie was in my arms.
* * * * *
That is the story of the Motor Pirate. There remain but a few things to
say. And first of them, let me explain how it happened that Evie managed
to fall into the Pirate's clutches.
I told her later that it was owing to feminine curiosity. She, on the
other hand, declares it was entirely owing to her anxiety on my account.
Whichever was the reason, the moment she had heard Mannering's car
approach, she had gone to the garden-gate, whence she was able to
command a view of the coach-house door. She had seen the man Laver rush
forward at the sound of the whistle. Then the pistol shot rang out, and
the next moment Mannering had appeared on the new car. He had seen her,
and she had attempted to fly to the house, but he had overtaken her and
carried her off. Once on the car he had proceeded a short distance on
the St. Alban's road, and then stopped to speak to her, for the first
and only time on that day.
"I am going to take you for a ride with me, Miss Maitland," he had
observed. "I merely wish to warn you before we start, that at the pace
we shall travel, you will find any attempt to escape exceedingly
dangerous."
It was then from his manner and appearance she had realized that she was
in the power of a madman.
As regards the ride, she could tell me very little. The pace was so
great that, being unprovided with a mask, she was obliged to crouch down
on the seat and cover her face with a rug as a protection against the
dust. It seemed an interminable time, she said, and the moment the car
stopped she made an attempt to regain her liberty, without knowing how
near she was to destruction at the time she made it.
Fortunately the strain had been much less than I expected, so far as
Evie was concerned, and much more than I anticipated, was its effect
upon myself. It was a long time before I completely recovered from the
effects of those three adventurous days. And the worst of it was, that
everything combined to prevent me obtaining the absolute quiet which I
needed. After spending a night at the hotel I, of course, hastened to
take train to London in order to restore Evie to her father. But when I
arrived at my place at St. Albans, I found a veritable army of pressmen
encamped on my doorstep. They would not give me a moment's peace. I was
compelled to remain in bed, and upon sending a message over to Evie to
inform her of my predicament, she informed me that she was similarly
besieged.
We exchanged a dozen notes. I rose when it was dark, and slipped out of
my back door. I could only see one method of securing quiet. Even a
hardened pressman has a dislike to intrude upon the privacy of a newly
married couple, so the next morning Evie and Colonel Maitland joined me
in town, and we were married by special license and, without returning
to St. Albans, we started for my home in Norfolk.
So much for myself.
Forrest was for a long time inconsolable at the final escape of the
Pirate from the hands of justice. So was his subordinate, Laver, whose
sentiments on the subject are quite too lurid for publication.
As for Mannering, no trace of his body was ever found, though I have
since heard that certain portions of the cars have been fished up from
the pools amongst the rocks at the base of the cliffs at low tide. At
present, however, there has not been sufficient of the machinery
recovered to enable any one to construct a similar motor. He had
apparently made no drawings, or else had destroyed them when they had
served his turn, so it would seem as if the secret of the singularly
speedy motor he invented is destined to be lost to the world. Still, it
may be that sufficient will be recovered to give some skilled
mechanician sufficient guidance to enable him to reproduce the lost
pirate car. If not, well, I don't suppose it matters. Some one else will
be sure to invent something similar. In fact, from the hints Mannering
gave me, and owing to the opportunity I had of examining the car in his
workshop, I think it is not unlikely that I shall shortly be applying
for letters patent myself.