station: "If you really would like my company on the way to town I'd
be glad to see how fast she can go." As he spoke he drew out his watch
and added with suppressed humorous intention: "I suppose you'll
guarantee to get me there in a couple of hours or so?"

"If we don't break down or are not arrested." The voice was gay and
without a touch of sinister suggestion.

"Here's a deep one, maybe," thought Harrington.

Already the kidnapper--if he were one--was steering the car into a
country way which diverged at a sharp curve from that in which they
had been travelling. It was a smooth, level stretch, running at first
almost parallel with the railroad, and in another moment they were
spinning along at a hair-lifting rate of speed, yet with so little
friction that the reporter's enthusiasm betrayed itself in a grunt of
satisfaction, though he was reflecting that his companion knew the way
and did not intend to allow him to change his mind. But Harrington was
quite content with the situation, and gave himself up unreservedly to
the pleasant thrill of skimming along the surface of the earth at such
a pace that the summer breeze buffeted his face so that his eyes
watered. There was nothing in sight but a clear, straight road flanked
by hedges and ditches, save the railroad bed, along which after a
while the train came whizzing. A pretty race ensued until it crossed
their path at almost a right angle.

"Now he thinks he has me," thought Harrington.

It almost seemed so, for in another moment he of the humorous,
determined mouth diminished the power, and after they were on the