vement. It was shattered and chipped, and carved into deep ruts
by wooden wheels; but there were no muddy veins of brown. Ten minutes
more, and our engine began to labour. Then, before there was time to count
the moments, we were in snow to our axles.

The motor's heart beat hard, but with a sturdy, dependable noise which
comforted Pilar, who was half laughing, half frightened, at this her first
adventure. At any instant now we might come upon the Lecomte held in the
snow-trap which threatened to catch us.

Ropes kept the car in the wide ruts made by ox-carts, but even with his
good driving we swayed to right and left, leaving the rough track and
ploughing into drifts dangerously near the precipice edge, or skidding as
if we skated on polished ice, failing to grip the frozen surface.

Now was the time to relieve the willing engine. Dick and I sprang out, and
Colonel O'Donnel followed, though we would have persuaded him to keep his
place. Only Pilar was left in the car, with Ropes driving, while we three
men, knee deep in snow, set our shoulders to help the Gloria as she made
the supreme effort. Pushing, and slipping at every step, our blood (which
had run sluggishly with cold) racing through our veins, we were putting on
a great spurt of united force, when gallantly rounding a bend we all but
rammed the back of Carmona's car.

There it was, stuck in a drift like a frozen wave; and there was Carmona
himself up to his knees in diamond dust, gloomily superintending his
chauffeur who packed snow into the radiator to cool the overheated motor.

All the extra power of the Lecomte gave no advantage over the Gloria here.
Fate had set the stage for us, and we must obey the cue. No ingenuity of
Pilar's could hide us in the wings any longer, and we must play our parts
as Destiny prompted.

Only one thing was clear. Carmona could have had no idea until now that
the O'Donnels (with that young soldier so like the Forbidden Man) were
travelling in the red car whence he had already plucked a suspected
passenger. The coincidence would seem strange to him; and if he were sure
enough of his ground to risk another error, he would probably denounce me
to the police in the next big town. Disguising my outcast self as an
officer in a Spanish regiment would not be a point in my favour; but--he
could do nothing now. Monica was here, and the moment was mine.

There was a savage joy in the situation, born of exaltation, of the high
altitude