d round the car. He was an
English boy; his family had gone on in front in a carriage, and he was
following them in the car. He learned at once that the carriage had
gone on to Dolceacqua, and was less than an hour ahead.

He paid for his food and milk, and without delay sent the car up the
steep hillside. He had to nurse and coax it up the steepest parts.
After another long jolting he reached Dolceacqua, vexed all the time by
the knowledge that the carriage was going as fast as he over such
roads. The magnificent view of the Mediterranean from the rose-gardens
of Dolceacqua afforded him no pleasure at all; it made only too clear
to him the risk he would run, if he recovered Dorothy and Elsie and had
to descend that steep at any pace. At Dolceacqua he learned that the
carriage was little more than half an hour ahead, on the road to
Islabona. He was pleased to hear that, for all the badness of the
road, he had gained upon it: plainly the horses were tiring.

Another steep climb brought him up to Islabona, to learn that the
carriage had turned to the right along the road to Apricale. To his
surprise and satisfaction he found this road smooth, and once more,
after long crawling, sent the car along at full speed. It was time to
make haste, for the sun was setting. A mile from Apricale he saw a
cloud of dust ahead of him, and he knew that he had the kidnappers in
sight. He slowed down, for he did not wish to be seen by them. Then
when the dust-cloud vanished into the straggling town, he hurried on
again, for if they pushed on through the darkness, he would have to
follow by the sound of their wheels.

He came through Apricale at a moderate speed. Then a mile beyond it,
as he came to the top of a little hill, he saw the carriage moving
slowly down an avenue, to a house on the left, some hundred yards from
the road. He stopped the car with a jerk, backed it a little way down
the hill, and from the brow watched the carriage drive up to the house.
Then the sun set, and the swift twilight fell.

He set about filling up the petrol tank, and making sure that the lamp
was ready to light. Then he backed the car into a clump of trees, and
set out across the fields for the house. It was the dark hour after
sunset, and he found most of the bushes thorny. Presently he came into
a deserted garden, overgrown with rank weeds and unclipped shrubs. He
hoped devoutly that the scorpions and tarantulas would await the
passi