just as his
partner came from beneath it, the three leaped into the car, Carstairs
threw on the speed, whirled about on air, it seemed to John, and left
the German in the road, staring open-mouthed.

But the German recovered quickly and uttered a shout of alarm, drawing
the attention of the armored motors, the rear files of which were not a
hundred yards away.

"Down, you fellows!" cried Carstairs, who now took the lead. "Have your
rifles ready to fire back, and enjoy what is going to be the greatest
ride of your lives!"

Some wild spirit seemed to have taken hold of the Englishman. An expert
driver, it may have been the touch of the wheel under his hand at such
an exciting moment, and then it may have been the shots from the German
cars that, in an instant, rattled upon the steel sides protecting the
car.

"Hold fast, you fellows!" cried Carstairs, who bent low over the wheel,
his flashing eyes now seeking to trace the road before them. "We are
going to eat up the ground!"

The car gave its last dizzy lurch as it completed its circuit and shot
ahead. John and Wharton had been thrown together, but they held on to
their rifles and righted themselves. Then John noticed beside him the
body and barrels of a machine gun, mounted and ready for use. He was the
sharpshooter of the three and that gun appealed to him, as the car had
appealed to Carstairs.

"Move over a little!" he shouted to Wharton.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to fight that pursuing German army."

In an instant the machine gun began to crackle like a box of exploding
crackers, sending back a hail of bullets which rattled upon the pursuing
cars or found victims in them. But they, crouching down, were completely
protected by the armor, and their careering machine made but a single
target while they could fire into the pursuing mass.

Carstairs bent lower and lower. He had gone completely wild for the
moment. Millions of sparks flew before his eyes. All the big and little
pulses in his head and body were beating heavily. They had just scored
two great triumphs. They had defeated the efforts of the masters of the
air, and they had taken from their foe one of his most formidable
weapons in which they might escape. His soul flamed with triumph, and
that old familiar touch of the wheel filled him with the strength not of
one giant, but of ten. He saw the road clearly now. There it lay ahead
of them, long, white and sinuous, and he never doubte