eternity."
The road out of Tafelberg wound upward among tall trees toward the pass that would
lead him across the next some excellent shooting. All his life Barney had promised
himself that some day he should visit his mother's native land, and now that he was here
he found it as wild and beautiful as she had said it would be.
Neither his mother nor his father had ever returned to the little country since the day,
thirty years before, that the big American had literally stolen his bride away, escaping
across the border but a scant half-hour ahead of the pursuing troop of Luthanian cavalry.
Barney had often wondered why it was that neither of them would ever speak of those
days, or of the early life of his mother, Victoria Rubinroth, though of the beauties of her
native land Mrs. Custer never tired of talking.
Barney Custer was thinking of these things as his machine wound up the picturesque road.
Just before him was a long, heavy grade, and as he took it with open muffler the chug-
ging of his motor drowned the sound of pounding hoof beats rapidly approaching behind
him.
It was not until he topped the grade that he heard any- thing unusual, and at the same
instant a girl on horseback tore past him. The speed of the animal would have been
enough to have told him that it was beyond the control of its frail rider, even without the
added testimony of the broken bit that dangled beneath the tensely outstretched chin.
Foam flecked the beast's neck and shoulders. It was evi- dent that the horse had been
running for some distance, yet its speed was still that of the thoroughly frightened
runaway.
The road at the point where the animal had passed Custer was cut from the hillside. At
the left an embankment rose steeply to a height of ten or fifteen feet. On the right there
was a drop of a hundred feet or more into a wooded ravine. Ahead, the road apparently
ran quite straight and smooth for a considerable distance.
Barney Custer knew that so long as the road ran straight the girl might be safe enough,
for she was evidently an excellent horsewoman; but be also knew that if there should be a
sharp turn to the left ahead, the horse in his blind fright would in all probability dash
headlong into the ravine below him.
There was but a single thing that the man might attempt if he were to save the girl from
the almost certain death which seemed in store for her, since he knew that sooner or later
the road would turn, as all mountain roads do. The chances that he must take, if he failed,
could only hasten the girl's end. There was no alternative except to sit supinely by and see
the fear-crazed horse carry its rider into eternity, and Barney Custer was not the sort for
that role.
Scarcely had the beast come abreast of him than his foot leaped to the accelerator. Like a
frightened deer the gray roadster sprang forward in pursuit. The road was narrow. Two
machines could not have passed upon it. Barney took the outside that he might hold the
horse away from the dangerous ravine.
At the sound of the whirring thing behind him the animal cast an affrighted glance in its
direction, and with a little squeal of terror redoubled its frantic efforts to escape. The girl,
too, looked back over her shoulder. Her face was very white, but her eyes were steady
and brave.
Barney Custer smiled up at her in encouragement, and the girl smiled back at him.
"She's sure a game one," thought Barney.
Now she was calling to him. At first he could not catch her words above the pounding of
the horse's hoofs and the noise of his motor. Presently he understood.
"Stop!" she cried. "Stop or you will be killed. The road turns to the left just ahead. You'll
go into the ravine at that speed."
The front wheel of the roadster was at the horse's right flank. Barney stepped upon the
accelerator a little harder. There was barely room between the horse and the edge of the
road for the four wheels of the roadster, and Barney must be very careful not to touch the
horse. The thought of that and what it would mean to the girl sent a cold shudder through
Barney Custer's athletic frame.
The man cast a glance to his right. His machine drove from the left side, and he could not
see the road at all over the right hand door. The sight of tree tops waving beneath him
was all that was visible. Just ahead the road's edge rushed swiftly beneath the
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