The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-05-19

tCOhCO Oh 4iShSccAyy SHE Wdc Tic ltt-
body of the race. Jack eranked the
engine, which started going with the
din of rapid-fire gun, and leaped in.
Morgan pulled his goggles down over
his eyes AMI sat tensely waiting, while
the starters, who shared the grand
stands opinion of Nineteen, perfuncto-
rily shouted the seconds into his ears.
-fve-four-three-," he
turned his head and had q glimpse of
a smiling figure leaning over a box rail-
ng-two-one-goy He let the clutch
in slowly. and the car moved easily
away from the silent grand stand-si-
lent save for one pair Of clapping
hands He shifted to the high gear, the
car fairly sprang into sprinting speed,
and flashed away down the oiled road
and the race that was to mean every
thing or nothing to Morgan was on.
On the racer sped, the incarnation of
velocity. To drive this creature of
steel and fire is the most dangerous
thing man does in the name of sport.
Mans highest development of Co.'s
material is in it, but under so terrific a
strain mans lest may snap. The course
is narrow and has its turns. and only
the coolest nerve and the steadiest,
quickest hand can hold the creature 10
her path. A snap. or an instants IN
s-eadiness of hand, and the race may
be forever over for man and machine.
And there may be a ragged hole in the
bordering human wall where the ma
chine tore through.
To keep your machine in the road,
and to keep it going at eighty miles an
hour on the straightaways and at forty
on the turns-that's the substance of
driving a racer, barring mishaps. And
that was the substance of Morgans
first round. He crept up to within half
a mile of Eighteen and was holding
that position when he SKINNED past
the grand stand. The grand stand was
q blur to him, but the corner of his eye
caught the waving of a single handker-
chief
Thirty minutes Jack announced.
Great"
Morgan nodded, his eyes on the oiled
roadway.
A few miles or Pearson had pune
ture in his rear tire. and stopped in the
very middle of the road to repair it, 1t
was such breaches of racing etiquette
as this that made him so cordially de-
tested by other drivers Morgan, tear
ing on behind, had to slow down and
run almost off the course to get by
The showdown cost him a quarter of
a minute; and 500-mile races are some
times won by little more
A little further on Morgan. himself,
had a rear tire punctured. He stopped
at the next tire station and had it re-
placed, and was starting off again. aft
er loss of three minutes, when Pear
son came whiZzing by. Morgan set out
in grim pursuit and gradually closed
the gap between them. When thirty
yards behind, he sounded his horn for
Pearson to give him half the road, but
Pearson, despite the rule that a ma
hoir tel
right, held the middle of the course
They ran so for a mile, then the way
broadened and Morgan touched his ac-
celerator Nineteen responded like a
hTOse to a whip, darted forward, swung
around Eighteen and again took the
middle of the road. When they flashed
by the grand stand Eighteen was a
mile behind
The next four rounds were wild
speeding. Nineteen ran as though she
knew the stake she carried. She passed
car after car, always ready with bursts
of swifter fight when asked of her. as
tireless as speed in the abstract. She
swept by cars that stood beside the
course with cracked cylinders and bro
ken flames; ard at one turn she passed
d heap of shattered steel and the wheel
rlowed roadside and splintered tele-
phone pole told that machines story.
But Nineteen refused to shy from the
course; her parts had the strength that
comes of perfect making, and she
rushed on with the speed of thought,
Her third round was done in twenty
nine minutes. The grand stand began
TO be interested. The fourth round I'm
the samoa slight cheer came from the
stand. The fifth round in the samoa
louder cheer. The sixth round Nine
teen came by in twenty-seven minutes,
leading the next machine, Pearscn's, by
more than half a lap. A roar went up
from the grand stand, so great that 1t
drowned to MorgaHs ears the terrific
artillery of his flying car, and the roar
Numbered along the parallel human
walls through which lie sped. Nineteen
had become the favorite
Suddenly, as she whizzed on, there
was an explosion and the car began to
bump. A rear tire had burst Morgan
kept her going with hardly any de-
q ease in speed till the first tire station
was reached. Change 'em alip' he
shouted, as he drew up on the green
space before the tent; an entire new
set should last through the race. He
end Jack tumbled their stiff bodies out
of the car and a dozen men fell upon
the wheels like skillful demons. While
they ripped off tires and slipped on new
q es Morgan and Jack took on gasoline
fabrication oil and water for the cyiin-
ders and each threw a glass down his
dry throat.
Five minutes after the car stopped
she was dashing on again. 1t was .
O'Clock now, and appetite, dulled by ex-
citement at their o'clock breakfast.
was beginning to take on a keen edge.
Jack broke up a cake of chocolate in
his grimy hands and pushed pieces into
Morgan's mouth. Morgan munched
and swallowed, and Jack pushed in
more-but Morgan's eyes never left the
greasy ribbon of road.
On, on the car sped. increasing her
lead every mile over Eighteen, which
still held second place. Near the end of
the ninth round they saw Pearson less
than a mile ahead-a lead of a lap on
their nearest rival,
"One more round," Morgan cried ex-
ultantly.
Jack Rugged his left arm.
When they turned into the straight
stretch that passed the grand stand,
Pearson was but a hundred yards or
two ahead, and a few lengths beyond
was No. Z, hopelessly out of the race
from an hours delay. but now running
bravely. Pearson, a notorious player
to the grand stand, saw here a chance
for bit of the spectacular. AS he and