But hark!... Behind, a trumpet-blast winds clear!
Great God! Our dread competitor draws near;
We’d half a minute start, and now, like Fate,
He’s rushing onward to annihilate
Distance and time, whirled in a hurricane!
Inexorably we see him gain and gain....
“Now!—speed her up!” the boy cries out. “More speed!”
“The curséd motor’s gone to sleep!—Indeed,
“We’re hardly doing fifty miles an hour.
“But he won’t pass us yet awhile! More power!”...