She was half fainting with the panic of excitement as he started to
lift her into the tonneau of the car. "No, no! Please let me sit with
you in the front seat," she implored. She had her way, and a moment
later he was up beside her, both wrapped in the oil-cloths, the
drizzle blowing in their hot faces.

"We're off, thank God!" he whispered joyously, as the car leaped
forward under his hand.

"I wonder--oh, dear, how I wonder what mamma will say," she was crying
in his ear.

Dauntless grinned happily as the car shot onward through the blackness
of the night. Its lanterns were dark and cold, but he knew the road.




CHAPTER II

THE FLYERS CATCH THE FLYER


No one would have recognised either of them had it been possible to
see them,--so carefully were their heads swathed in their coverings.
She was veiled and he was goggled, and both of them scrooged down in
the seat apprehensively. Hardy's car, borrowed in reality for the
occasion, was performing nobly. It careened through the muddy streets
of the village with a sturdiness that augured well for the enterprise.