Autogyro

“ Maurice opened his cigarette-case and offered it to his brother.
“Thanks, old man,” said George, contritely. “Got a light?”
Maurice struck a match, replaced the box in his pocket with deliberation, and said:
“George, old boy, what is a gyroscope?”
“Well, old man, it’s a sort of top, as you see. They’re stopping: it takes some time when they’re going at 5,000 a minute. You can see ’m spinning now. They’re in a vacuum, to get rid of air resistance and skin friction, and so you get a high velocity with a minimum of power.” ”

“ Sometimes the green motor was left out of both sight and hearing, and then George would hope that it had broken down. But it always reappeared whenever an abrupt curve forced him to slacken speed for fear of skidding, even though in his excitement he took the corners at a pace that he would not have dreamed of risking a few hours earlier. The gyro-car had [Pg 102] always this advantage in the race: that it was capable of higher speed than the motor when pressed. It was only a question of taking risks, and neither Maurice nor George was unready to do this. ”

“ They ran back to the car, replaced the plug, and filled the tank from one of the tins. Then they started again; the accident had cost them more than five minutes. The shouts from the hill-tops sounded nearer. Giorgio now and again flung out his hand on one side or the other, to signify the exact direction from which the shout came. Like a batsman who has just been “let off” in the long field, George seemed to become reckless. He drove the car at a speed that made Giorgio cling in terror to the back of the seat, and even provoked a remonstrance from Maurice. ”

“ George, thinking of the safety of the gyro-car, snatched up a rifle and cartridges and hurried down the ricketty ladder to the ground floor. Maurice followed him, gripping his revolver; and Giulika took a rifle from the wall and descended the steps more slowly.
The Bucklands had just reached the door when it was burst in, yielding to a tremendous blow from something of the nature of a battering-ram. They fired at the crowd [Pg 141] beginning to swarm in. In darkness themselves, they were able to take good aim at the enemy by the glare of combustibles flung down from the roof. ”

“ By the bye,” continued Maurice, “I see that your gyro-car, as you call it, has no doors, and you have to vault over the side in getting in and out. That strikes me as being somewhat of an inconvenience, and an unnecessary one, to boot.”
“Not a bit of it. The car is built so low that it doesn’t matter. Besides, it’s an amphibious animal, old man; any sort of opening in the sides would hardly tend to increase its sea-worthiness.” ”

“ Yard by yard the path became steeper, and at times bent so abruptly that only with the greatest care, and by the united efforts of the whole party, could the gyro-car be dragged or pushed round. More than once Giulika muttered an imprecation on the people who invented machines. On foot, even on horseback, the narrow path presented little difficulty to a mountaineer, and the simple old man could not understand why two travellers, in peril of their lives from enemies, should enhance their danger by clinging to a thing of metal. ”

“ The household at the Acacias was variously [Pg 40] sorry when Buckland announced his immediate departure. Mrs. Courtenay-Greene was regretful at losing the company of a man of the world; Sheila was fond of her brother when he allowed his natural self to appear; and George had found him a very pleasant companion since he had become interested in the gyro-car.
“How rotten!” said the boy on hearing the news. “Why can’t they let you enjoy your holiday in peace?”
“My dear George,” replied Maurice, “our little private concerns are as dust swept by a broom when world-forces are at work. ”

“ Those old flies are dangerous, and ought to be abolished.”
Next afternoon George had the pleasure of driving his brother to the station. As they passed the Anchor they noticed a large motor-car with a yellow body standing at the door of the little hotel. Several foreigners were lounging on the garden seat in front of the coffee-room. They broke off their conversation as the gyro-car ran by, looking after it with curiosity. A minute after it arrived at the station the motor-car dashed up. Two men alighted from it, and went into the booking-office, where Maurice had just taken his ticket. ”

“ For many miles the road switchbacked among the hills. Now the motor would gain, now the gyro-car. Wherever he could, George ran along the fairly [Pg 101] level foot-track by the roadside, thus escaping the loose shingles of the ill-kept highway. Here the motor-car could not follow it. Fortunately there was little traffic. At one point he swerved suddenly to avoid a man driving a diminutive donkey. Warned by the hooter, the man snatched up the donkey, and carried it to the side out of harm’s way. Dense volumes of dust rose behind the gyro-car, flying full in the faces of the pursuers ”

“ There was no proper accommodation for a third person in the car, but Giorgio crouched in the narrow space between the seats and the gyroscopes. George started the engine, and the car began to gather away. The Albanian, stolid and iron-nerved as he was, gasped with dismay as the vehicle ran down the incline, bumping a little when, in spite of George’s careful steering, it crossed a hollow or a knob of rock. The path began to switchback. Then it was a series of rushes at the up grades and scrambles down the slopes on the other side, with the brakes hard on. ”

“ And while the crowd cackled and gibbered in glee, Grumgra scornfully announced: "I have found out all that the Sparrow-Hearted has done. He made wicked magic last night. He does not fight before our eyes like other men—he runs away, and then works his evil like a crawling serpent behind our backs. While we were all asleep, he spoke with the wind-god and the gods of the clouds, and told them to put out the fire-god. Also, he called to the bad spirits of the woods, and told them to catch and eat our people. This the bad spirits did—and for this Ru must suffer!" ”

“ As the stranger continued to keep silent, Geirrod commanded his servants to chain him to a pillar in the great hall and build on each side of him a hot fire whose flames would torture without destroying him. So they dragged the unresisting old man to the pillar and bound him with chains too strong for even the stoutest warrior to break. ”

“ It is a bad road; but not impossible.”
At this an idea struck Maurice. If they could gain the bank of the river, they might float down the current on the gyro-car without any expenditure of petrol. The river would only take them a short distance in the direction they wished to go, because it swept westward towards the Adriatic; but a river journey would have the advantage of keeping them off the frequented roads, and probably out of sight from the pursuers. ”

“ I consider that the highest good of a hat shop demands it. As a matter of fact I had never up to this time tasted intoxicating liquor, but it was evident to my wife and me that the time had arrived when the hat business demanded this sacrifice on my part. Evidently, if a gyro-hat is meant to keep a staggerer and reeler steady on his keel, the only test of the gyro-hat must be on the head of a man who, without the hat, could not help staggering and reeling—a thoroughly intoxicated man. ”

“ Gyuri fell back against the wall, the kitchen and everything in it swam before his eyes, the plates and basins seemed to be dancing a waltz together; a tongue of fire arose from the fireplace, bringing with it the third demon, who exclaimed: "There is nothing here!"
But all at once he felt a hand laid on his arm. It was Sztolarik.
"It was, and is no more," he said. "But never mind, Fate intended it to be so. For the future you will not, at all events, run after a shadow, you will be yourself again, and that is worth a good deal, after all." ”

“ The little town of Modane, where he must necessarily stop to deal with the Customs officers, was still more than a hundred kilometres ahead. It might not be so easy there as it had been at Calais to get the gyro-car passed. Maurice was ignorant of the regulations, whereas he had little doubt that the pursuers were well informed on all essential points.
“The worst of it is,” he said to George, “they are so horribly persistent that we hardly dare stop even for a meal. They are determined to run us down.” ”

“ My dear sir, it’s quite impossible.”
“Our gyro can go wherever there’s a track,” protested George.
“You would be murdered en route,” said the officer; “they’re all brigands there.”
“When I was in Constantinople,” said Maurice, “I made acquaintance with several Albanians, and learnt something of the language. I think we might get through safely.”
“But, my dear sir, what about petrol? You will use far more in crossing the Adriatic than you would over the same distance by [Pg 111] land, and you can’t possibly carry enough with you to take you to Sofia over mountainous country. ”

“ A few minutes’ run brought them to another bridge, crossing a tributary stream. At the near end of the bridge was a kula, and as the gyro-car came to it a man stepped into the path, holding a rifle.
“Shall we run past him?” asked George.
“I think we had better pull up,” replied Maurice. “We don’t want a bullet in our backs. I daresay he will give us some food if we approach him properly.” ”

“ They left the room together, and found Gyuri waiting for them a little further along the corridor. “Aren’t you well, sir?” the attendant asked the doctor, with an anxious note in his voice.
The man’s anxiety was not feigned. He was really a faithful servant in his devotion to the old doctor, although Muller had not misjudged him when he decided that this young giant was capable of anything. Good and evil often lie so close together in the human heart.
The doctor’s emotion prevented him from speaking, and the detective answered in his place. “It is a sudden indisposition,” he said. ”

“ The men in the upper floor might waken; there would be no wakening for the guard in the room below. Marko stole to the corner of the house. Between the house and the camp fire a number of horses were tethered. They cast a shadow on the spot where the gyro-car rested against the wall. Marko beckoned, and George joined him. After a moment’s hesitation they crept round on all fours, placed themselves one on each side of the car, and wheeled it silently [Pg 162] round the corner to the side of the house, and thence to the back.
“Come with us,” said Giulika. ”

“ Then I knew that he was seeking his fetizo, and my very blood ran coldly for to think that he had last left it hid under that same mat whereon I lay. I beheld him feeling about in the two corners at that end of the chamber where he was, and then he turned himself, and, still crouching, came towards me on his hands and knees. Now he could not lift up himself, both by reason of his fetters and of those torments that he had endured, so that his going seemed liker that of some savage beast of prey than a man, and as he came, I saw his evil eyes glitter, as though lit up by fire from within. ”

“ Stop them! Will no one stop them!" And in despair, seeing no one move to arrest them, he made as if he would stand between them.
But the bully flourished his blade about his ears, and with a cry the goodman saved himself "Out, skinker!" Grio cried grimly. "And you, say your prayers, puppy. Before you are five minutes older I will spit you like a partridge though I cross the frontier for it. You have basted me with wine! I will baste you after another fashion! On guard! On guard, and——"
"What is this?" [Pg 11]
The voice stayed Grio's tongue and checked his foot in the very instant of assault. ”

“ That is how I acquired my unfortunate stagger and unpleasant reel, and I have only told you this that you may have no unjust suspicions.”
“But why,” asked my wife, who had been greatly interested by Walsingham’s story, “do you not revolve in the opposite direction, and ‘unwind’ yourself, as we used to say?”
“Madame,” said Walsingham, “I have. Every night, for one hour before I go to bed I revolve, but it requires an immense number of revolutions to overcome such a spin as I had in my youth.” He waited a moment and then said: “But I am now ready to try the gyro-hat.” ”

“ A turning-lathe stood by the window and an elderly man was at work at it. Gyuri called to him and he turned and rose when he saw a stranger.
Lajos Varna was a tall, loose-jointed man with sallow skin and tired eyes. He gave only a hasty glance at his visitor, then looked at Gyuri. The expression in his eyes as he turned them on those of the warder was like the look in the eyes of a well-trained dog when it watches its master’s face. ”

“ At first he thought nothing of it, but presently he knew that the spears were poisoned, and now he must die.
“Take care,” said the poor fellow, almost with his last breath, “keep away, kill you too, like Gioro; back, back to the big long wire.”
He died quite easily, and I felt as he lay in my arms that it would be the best thing that could happen us if the poisoned arrows of the blacks had made an end of us as well as of him. The poor fellow’s faithfulness would have helped us to face death without flinching. ”

“ Paris to Melun, forty kilometres. They don’t recommend the first route, by the Porte Daumesnil and the Bois de Vincennes, so we’ll choose that. We shall join the direct road at Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, thirteen kilometres distant. And the sooner we start the better. Go and set your gyroscopes working, while I pay the bill.”
It took several minutes to set the gyroscopes running at full speed. Maurice was anxious to start before this, but George pointed out that they had better not appear in the street until the car was thoroughly ready, in case any of the Slavianski scouts were on the watch. ”