The Motor Pirate Part 28

Our progress became dream-like to me. It was almost monotonous. One could observe so little, just an incident here and there to mark the stages in the journey. Thus I remember Honiton by the frightened scream of a cur which was swept off its feet by the rush of the air as we pa.s.sed close at his tail. Then nothing of note until we reached Exeter.

At the cathedral city we were told the white car was only a minute in advance. I began to wonder where the chase was going to end, for Mannering was still going westward without pause. Still we followed. Out on to the Launceston road; onward, ever onward until the bare hills of Dartmoor frowned upon us, and we had to slacken slightly for the long upward grind. Fortunately the hills were free from mist, and on reaching the summit of Whiddon Down we caught once more a glimpse of the white car before it disappeared in the distance. I was getting reckless, and I took the descent at a pace which blanched even Forrest's cheek. Then through a streak of white houses, which I fancied must be Okehampton.

There was no need to inquire the way. At the pace both cars were travelling there was only one road which would serve either Mannering or myself. In fifteen minutes Launceston came into view. Then up again until from the top of Bodmin moor we caught fleeting glimpses of the sea on either side of us. On still without pause, through Redruth and Camborne and Hayle. Finally a sight of them at last, as we opened up St.

Michael's Bay as we came to Marazion. And here I thought the chase had come to an end. I was mistaken.

CHAPTER XXIII

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 pa.s.sed. 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 gra.s.sy 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 Ca.s.siterides 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 G.o.d, 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 antic.i.p.ated, 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.

CHAPTER XXIV

REVELATIONS

THERE remains only one thing more. I feel that the story would be incomplete if I kept to myself certain particulars concerning Mannering, which have come to my knowledge since the day when he made his sensational flight into eternity from the brow of the cliff at Land's End. At the time, both my wife and myself wished never to hear again the name of the man whose actions had provided us with such terrible and nerve-shattering experiences, but afterwards, when we came to think over the matter, it occurred to both of us that in fact we knew very little about the man who had nearly wrecked our lives. To dwell upon that thought naturally awakened our curiosity concerning his past life, and, needless to say, when the opportunity occurred for gratifying our curiosity, we did not for a moment hesitate about accepting it. It is true that we had gathered from his conversation that he had travelled widely, but in what capacity, or with what object, we knew as little as we knew of his birthplace or parentage. We found, too, a difficulty in understanding the motives which had prompted Mannering's actions, and, though we often discussed the question, we could never of ourselves have arrived at a satisfactory solution of the problem.