g
glare of the opposing headlights; the stalled machine was in the full
illumination of his own lamps.

Contrary to Gray's expectations, the car in the road was empty and the
man who had hailed him was a stranger. As the latter approached, he
inquired:

"What's wrong?"

"Out of gas, I guess. Anyhow--I--" The speaker noted that there was but
one new arrival, where he had expected two, and the discovery appeared
to nonplus him momentarily. He stammered, involuntarily he turned his
head.

Gray looked in the same direction, but without changing his position,
and out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed a new figure emerging from
the shadows behind him. Very clever! But, at least, his unexpected
maneuver with his own car had made it necessary for both men to
approach him from the same side.

While the first stranger continued to mumble, Gray sat motionless,
keenly conscious, meanwhile, of that other presence closing in upon him
from the rear. He simulated a violent start when a second voice cried:

"Don't move. I've got you covered."

"My God!" Gray twisted about in his seat and exposed a startled
countenance. A masked man was standing close to the left running board,
and he held a revolver near Gray's head; the apparition appeared to
paralyze the unhappy traveler, for he still tightly clutched the
steering wheel with both hands.

"Just sit still." The cloth of the mask blew outward as the words
issued; through the slits two malevolent eyes gleamed. "Act pretty, and
you won't get hurt."

"Why! It's--it's Mr. _Mallow_!" Gray hitched himself farther around in
his seat and leaned forward in justifiable amazement. "As I live it's
you, Mallow!" Both highwaymen were in front of him, now, and shoulder
to shoulder; he made sure there were no others behind them.

"Shut up!" Mallow snapped. "Frisk him, Tony, and--"

The command was cut short by a startled, throaty cry--a hoarse sound of
astonishment and rage--and simultaneously a strange, a phenomenal thing
occurred. An unseen hand appeared to strike down both Mallow and his
accomplice where they stood, and it smote them, moreover, with
appalling force and terrifying effect. One moment they were in complete
mastery of the situation, the next they were groveling in the road,
coughing, sneezing, barking, retching, blaspheming poisonously. Baffled
fury followed their first surprise. Mallow tore the mask from his face
and groped blindly for the weapon he had dropped, but be