Several days passed quietly. There was nothing to lead me to expect
that I should soon quit Washington; though in my line of duty one is
never certain of the morrow. At any moment I might be sent speeding
from Oregon to Florida, from Maine to Texas. And this unpleasant
thought haunted me frequently if my next mission were no more
successful than that to the Great Eyrie, I might as well give up and
hand in my resignation from the force. Of the mysterious chauffeur or
chauffeurs, nothing more was heard. I knew that our own government
agents, as well as foreign ones, were keeping keen watch over all the
roads and rivers, all the lakes and the coasts of America. Of course,
the size of the country made any close supervision impossible; but
these twin inventors had not before chosen secluded and unfrequented
spots in which to appear. The main highway of Wisconsin on a great
race day, the harbor of Boston, incessantly crossed by thousands of
boats, these were hardly what would be called hiding-places! If the
daring driver had not perished of which there was always strong
probability; then he must have left America. Perhaps he was in the
waters of the Old World, or else resting in some retreat known only
to himself, and in that case--

"Ah!" I repeated to myself, many times, "for such a retreat, as
secret as inaccessible, this fantastic personage could not find one
better than the Great Eyrie!" But, of course, a boat could not get
there, any more than an automobile. Only high-flying birds of prey,
eagles or condors, could find refuge there.

The nineteenth of June I was going to the police bureau, when, on
leaving my house, I noticed two men who looked at me with a certain
keenness. Not knowing them, I took no notice; and if my attention was