damp to his face. But
there was nothing to check his exultation. Come wind or rain or snow
they were all one to him. He was away from Zillenstein, out in the great
free world and Julie was with him. Auersperg himself, unknowing, had
provided the way and he was sending them not only in comfort but in
luxury. John knew the big automobile. It was the prince's own and it was
surely equipped in a princely way. The man who bad brought it to the
gate had been forced to go away and he, John Scott, and Prince Karl of
Auersperg alone knew where they were going. All the better! He laughed
under his breath as he handled the wheel with hands now skilled and sent
the great automobile along the smooth white road that stretched away and
away up the mountain side.

At a curve a mile or more distant, he could look down almost directly
upon Zillenstein. The vast castle was bathed in whitish mists floating
up the valley in which it loomed gigantic and enlarged, a menacing
creation that had survived far beyond its time. He shuddered at the
thought that Julie and he might still be there, had not fortune been so
kind, and then, pressing the accelerator, he sent the machine forward a
little faster.

The road owing to the steepness of the ascent now wound a great deal,
but it was smooth and safe, and the automobile, despite its size, had an
organism as delicate as that of a watch. It obeyed the least pressure of
his hand, and his exultation became all the greater when he fully
realized that he had such a powerful mechanism at hand, subject to its
lightest touch. The thought, in truth, had come to him that he might
turn back into the valley, and seek escape from the mountains. But
consideration showed that the idea was foolish. So large a machine by no
possibility could escape from the valley. It was better to go on.

The cold increased sharply. He expected a fall in the mercury owing to
the ascent, but it was greater than the height alone warranted. All the
signs betokened foul weather. The castle was now wholly lost in great
masses of vapor and the moon was withdrawing from the sky. The wind had
an edge of ice. He knew that mountains were the breeding place of storms
and he made another increase of speed in order that they might reach the
hunting lodge before one broke.

He had not heard a sound from the interior of the automobile since he
started. They were sitting only a few feet away, but the whistling of
the wind and the crunch of the