by C. N. and A. M. Williamson

“ We travel by Newhaven and Dieppe, as Syb hates the dull journey from Calais. See us off at Victoria, go to Newhaven on your motor, get across the Channel with it as you can, and be on the station to welcome us in Paris. It's a race between the railways and your motor. If you come out on top I'll believe in you, and I'll believe in your motor. What's more, if Syb don't love you already, she's the sort of girl to adore a man who makes such a dash to get her, and succeeds. ”

“ The Whim was the only pleasure craft in the world fitted with Lancaster's new turbine engines. It had been Dacre's pride to further his friend's ambitions, and when the Admiralty, with their usual caution, had declined to adopt the young inventor's design, Dacre had begged him to fit the engines into a new yacht of his own, declaring that they would astonish the world. When the motor-car had been secured on deck the two went below to look at the turbines. ”

“ Perhaps there might be some by-road on which, by a détour, he might avoid the pavé. He saw a man working in a field—the only living figure in the whole wide landscape. Stopping the car and jumping down he ran to talk to the peasant. No; there was nothing for it, he was told, but to return to Gisors. He was striding back to the car when he heard an exclamation from Blair, who, leaning out, stared down at the near wheels. The man turned a frightened face on his master, and to his dismay the inventor saw a great rent in the tyre of one of the steering-wheels. ”

“ He dared not think of that now; but with a firm hand on the steering-wheel, and a ready foot controlling the friction clutch and brake, he rushed on through Brixton, and once past it, and in the clearer road by Streatham, he slipped in the third speed. Like a grey-hound the car leaped forward, increasing in a few yards from fifteen to thirty miles an hour. ”

“ Well, you haven't the handle; but I'll give you a straight tip and a chance for the other thing. You say your motor-car is going to be the fastest thing on wheels, and if it is, why, the inventor's bound to be a big man before long, and a mighty rich one. Prove that you can do what you boast you can, and you shall have my girl. I'll guarantee that she'll go in for that test, and give herself as the prize if she's fairly won."
"What do you mean?" asked Lancaster, flushing a little.
"Syb and I are going to Paris to-morrow," said old Fleetwood, "and Lord Weybridge is going with us. ”

“ As Lancaster brought the car to a stop alongside the quay at Newhaven he looked at his watch. He had been exactly two hours from Victoria Station, and the boat had left for Dieppe half an hour ago! He had come at an average speed of thirty miles an hour. It was a feat, considering that for mile after mile, through London and its long suburbs, through towns and villages, he had had to slow down to the legal limit. He saw Dacre's yacht lying alongside the quay, and next moment the owner himself was coming to meet him. ”

“ But to beat express trains on a long run when they are on level rails and have no trouble about steering, while I have to contend with gradients and traffic, and with such a prize as the reward—it's enough to break a man's nerve. I'll have a good try though, for I believe it would catch Sybil's fancy; and she does like me. In one thing, Dacre, you can help me; in fact, without you I'm done. I want the loan of your turbine yacht. You know they won't carry a motor-car across the Channel on the ordinary day passenger-boats ”

“ I should like a man to do something to win me: something that other men couldn't do!"
The young man was looking at her piquant profile, and she, glancing up, could not fail to understand the message in his eyes. Miss Fleetwood blushed, although she was not ignorant of his feelings. She and Brooke Lancaster, the brilliant young inventor and man of science, were very good friends, and he would cheerfully have been a great deal more if the girl could but be induced to listen to him seriously. ”

“ Mechanically Lancaster felt for a coin and thrust it into the man's hand. it was a sovereign. He was allowed to push his way through. The train was slowing down now, the passengers beginning to descend. Lancaster's eyes were strained in their eager search.
All this instant the door of a first-class compartment almost in front of him was thrown open, though the train was not yet stationary. Lord Weybridge, more active than ever before in his forty-five years, sprang out hopefully, surveying the platform. "Not here!" Lancaster heard him exclaim. ”

“ It gave off scarcely any appreciable vapour.
"Is this the stuff I told you to get?" he demanded of Blair.
"The same, sir."
"Then it's been adulterated." Lancaster took the densimeter from its case and let it float in the spirit. Dacre and the douaniers had gathered round. Everyone felt that some game was being played to which they had no clue; so fierce did the Englishman look, so shame-faced the mechanic. The instrument showed that the spirit was largely mixed with water; for driving a motor-car it was worthless. ”

“ Carefully he followed every inch of the electric wire, in case the insulating material might he worn away by friction and "short-circuiting" be taking place. But all was in perfect order. Perhaps the valves, or one of them, was foul. Yet that could hardly be, as they had been right that morning in London, and the run since had been comparatively short. ”