He was more amazed than the attackers. They had fancied that they were dealing with an elderly, unarmed man; but Craig thought that the car was empty. He could not imagine who was returning the gunfire.
The firing ceased as the two men staggered forward into the glare of the headlights. They did not realize that they were making targets of their bodies; they were only hoping to escape that deadly trap in the rear of the car.
Then a voice spoke from the darkness, beside the car.
“Craig,” it said, in a low whisper.
The chauffeur arose, startled by the mention of his name.
“Drive ahead,” said the voice.
As the chauffeur obeyed, one of the men lying on the ground raised his arm to fire. There was a spurt of flame two feet away from the chauffeur. The rising man fell.
Craig threw the car in gear and the huge limousine shot ahead. Craig could not understand what had happened; he only knew that he had been saved from a mass attack of armed men.
He heard wild parting shots as he sped away; then above them, the sound of a long, wild laugh — a laugh that was filled with eerie mockery as it seemed to come from the blackness of the surrounding woods.
The weird laugh was chilling. Craig shuddered at the echoes of its gibing tones. He drove madly ahead, so rapidly that he had no fear of pursuit.