The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1909-10-07
CHAPTER XVII.
The Race Ended.

q idcihB Car, out IL was very neaVlly
engined to anything between sixty
and eighty horsepower.
Directly the race proper began II
seemed obvious that Marriott and
Grant had the advantage Of the other
car.
Il should think" Marriott said
bending low over the steering wheel
and with his eyes half closed, "that
we have ten seconds in the minute
over this chap, and he Is driving for
all he Is worth. Give me four min.
utes and a straight road and 7 will be
even with him."
He spoke In a voice which reached
Grants ears with great d~istinctness-
1t was the voice of a sailor accus-
toned to make himself heard in a
gale.
What are we going to do them"
Grant said.
THAT remains to be SEEN" Basil
replied; but / expect that we will
slow down. At any rate, we must
risk no accident, as the Duke is
there"
He went on Jerking out his words
breathlessly, while the furious wind
created by the enormous speed at
which they were going wrestled with
them. Have you got your revolver
in your pocket?" he asked Grant.
Grant nodded.
Very well, then. When we get
up close, take 1t put and shoot at the
back tires. II you puncture only one
of them they are bound to come to
a stop"
Grant felt in his pocket and with
drew the little glittering Webley,
loaded in all its five chambers.
very WELL" he said carelessly.
On they went, rushing through the
air like a shell from a gun. A mile
was shovelled up and thrown behind
them In a minute and a half, but still
the other car kept its distance.
II cannot understand it." Marriott
gasped out. "The engines are not so
powerful as ours, nor is the car so
big"
Then, suddenly, the explanation
came to him. He did not tell Grant,
because he was a man, who in times of
action and danger. did nothing that
was s~uperfuous. He wanted all his
energies, all his concentrated atten-
ton, all his physical power, to drive
this ear to overhaul the one In front.
1t would therefore have been super
fiuous to tell his companion what he
had arrived at. 1t was this.
The driver of the car which held
the little Duke dressed as a girl had
turned a spray OF pure alcohol into
his petrol, and, at the risk of running
mis- car in a few days, was straining
1t to its utmost capacity.
The sailor was a scientific man,
and, indeed, had often been to the
Brooklyn Racing Track when on
leave. He knew-knew instinctively
that the trick, forbidden in actor
racing under the automobile clubs
laws, was being employed in this
very up-to-date car which he could
not catch.
If the swift movement of an ex-
press train had induced thought,
when the two men were rushing
from Victoria to Dover but a few
hours ago. the enormous speed at
which they were now hurled through
the air reacted upon the sailor as
oxygen upon a man sitting in the last
throes OF asthma. Everything seemed
to become clear and vivid In his
brain. He remembered every detail
of the quest, and In doing so became
blond moustache was none other than
Fritz o Ravenstein himself. 1t was,
indeed-Captain Marriott was as GER
tain of it as If he had evidence and
proof-the son of Miss Decies, the
Baroness Won Ravenstein, who had
the little Duke in his power.
Clearer and clearer grew the young
mans appreciation Of the situation.
He realized that the spy, Hulke, had
ben employed merely to discover his
own and Grants movements. and to
telegraph them direct to the sinister
and mysterious figdre at Wohlau-
Landskrona.
Hulke had evidently not been ad-
mitted fully into the confidence of the
c~onspirators. He was given one duty
to perform, and that was all. There
fore, Hulke had been obviously un-
aware that Fritz Won Ravenstein and
the little Duke we're actually staying
in the same hotel to which Grant and
Marriott. the Duchess and Daisy, had
come by choice.
How the little Duke and his captor
left England Marriott did not know.
1t was. at any rate, q scheme most
c~unningly contrived. but that was i'm
material. The fact remained that
Ravenstein and his charge had not
been able to arrive 1t Bad Tirsten-
berg before. and that Fate. Provi-
d~ence--call It what you wiIl--had d.
rected the search-party to the very
spot whore the EaG5 noy ane the man
with him were resting before the a.
nal Journey to the Principaffry.
The . vas travelling ct its top
speed. They were up to dfty miles
"A hoaz. without doubt. but, asvsrths-