from some mythological menagerie, in short, the devil in person, who
could defy all human intervention, having at his command invisible
and infinite satanic powers.

But even Satan himself had no right to run at such speed over the
roads of the United States without a special permit, without a number
on his car, and without a regular license. And it was certain that
not a single municipality had given him permission to go two hundred
miles an hour. Public security demanded that some means be found to
unmask the secret of this terrible chauffeur.

Moreover, it was not only Pennsylvania that served as the theater of
his sportive eccentricities. The police reported his appearance in
other states; in Kentucky near Frankfort; in Ohio near Columbus; in
Tennessee near Nashville; in Missouri near Jefferson; and finally in
Illinois in the neighborhood of Chicago.

The alarm having been given, it became the duty of the authorities to
take steps against this public danger. To arrest or even to halt an
apparition moving at such speed was scarcely practicable. A better
way would be to erect across the roads solid gateways with which the
flying machine must come in contact sooner or later, and be smashed
into a thousand pieces.

"Nonsense!" declared the incredulous. "This madman would know well
how to circle around such obstructions."

"And if necessary," added others," the machine would leap over the
barriers."