wheels on the sanded road would have
drowned out all slight noises, and they did not speak, nor did he look
back.

He knew that they could see only a broad back in front of them and the
muffling coat and cap. He longed to say a word or two, but he deemed it
wisest to wait yet a while. His full attention was concentrated upon the
machine and the road and it was all the more necessary because the night
was growing darker and the wind cut.

But his confidence was so high that he handled the automobile through
all the dangers with a firm and sure hand. It sped on and on, climbing
in a rapid series of circles up the side of the mountain. Behind him the
gulf was filled with vapors and before him the clouds were growing
darker on the crest, but he could yet trace the road, and it would not
be long now until they reached the crest and the pine forest in which
the hunting lodge stood.

He wondered what kind of man the forester Muller would prove to be. If
he were suspicious, keenly alert, he might prevent their ultimate
escape, but if he were merely a simple hunter John might make friends
with him and use him for his purposes. Then his thoughts came quickly
back to Julie. He believed that she had left the castle without
resistance of any kind. She would be glad to escape from Zillenstein and
Auersperg, no matter where that escape might take her.

Another half-hour and the crest was but a hundred yards or so away. How
thankful he was now that he had put on extra speed despite the ascent
and had driven the machine hard, because the road would soon be blotted
from sight! Heavy flakes of snow had begun to fall and with the rising
wind they were coming faster and faster.

He dimly made out a pine wood on his right, and, then, in the center of
it the outline of a low building which he knew must be the hunting
lodge. He slowed down the machine, took the last little curve, and
stopped before the door of the lodge. But in that minute the snow had
become a driving white storm.

He leaped out, knocked hard on the door of the lodge, and, no answer
coming, threw himself heavily against it. It burst open, revealing only
an interior of darkness, but he turned quickly back to the automobile,
threw wide its door and beckoned with peremptory command to the two dark
figures sitting within.

They stepped out, Julie first, and entered the lodge. John followed
them, and there they stood, staring at one another until their eyes
might grow us