pture one
of them, if they were a little more intelligent and less imprudent,
and if they did not compromise themselves so stupidly. Nothing, it
seems to me, would be easier than to plan a crime, a theft or an
assassination, and to execute it without arousing any suspicions, or
leaving any traces to be followed. You understand, Strock, I do not
want to give our criminals lessons; I much prefer to have them remain
as they are. Nevertheless there are many whom the police will never
be able to track down."

On this matter I shared absolutely the opinion of my chief. It is
among rascals that one finds the most fools. For this very reason I
had been much surprised that none of the authorities had been able to
throw any light upon the recent performances of the "demon
automobile." And when Mr. Ward brought up this subject, I did not
conceal from him my astonishment.

He pointed out that the vehicle was practically unpursuable; that in
its earlier appearances, it had apparently vanished from all roads
even before a telephone message could be sent ahead. Active and
numerous police agents had been spread throughout the country, but no
one of them had encountered the delinquent. He did not move
continuously from place to place, even at his amazing speed, but
seemed to appear only for a moment and then to vanish into thin air.
True, he had at length remained visible along the entire route from
Prairie-du-Chien to Milwaukee, and he had covered in less than an
hour and a half this track of two hundred miles.

But since then, there had been no news whatever of the machine.
Arrived at the end of the route, driven onward by its own impetus,
unable to stop, had it indeed been engulfed within the waters of Lake
Michigan? Must we conclude that the machine and its driver had both
perished, that there was no longer any danger to be feared from
either? The great majority of the public refused to accept this
conclusion. They fully expected the machine to reappear.

Mr. Ward frankly admitted that the whole matter seemed to him most
extraordinary; and I shared his view. Assuredly if this infernal
chauffeur did not return, his apparition would have to be placed
among those superhuman mysteries which it is not given to man to
understand.

We had fully discussed this affair, the chief and I; and I thought
that our interview was at an end, when, after pacing the room for a
few moments, he said abruptly, "Yes, what happened there at Milwaukee