A few kilometres beyond Aix-les-Bains the road was blocked by the gates of another crossing. Here Maurice told the same story, and the keeper entered into the spirit of the trick even more thoroughly than the other. The train would have passed, he thought, before the German car could arrive, and he would have no reason for keeping the gates closed against it.
“But no matter, Monsieur,” he said. “If no reason, I can find an excuse. I have a little shunting to do. The Germans shall see!”
Pocketing Maurice’s coin with a cheerful grin, he shut the gates behind the gyro-car and re-entered his cabin.
Evening dusk was falling; it would soon be dark. Maurice was anxious to cross the Italian frontier that night. The little town of Modane, where he must necessarily stop to deal with the Customs officers, was still more than a hundred kilometres ahead. It might not be so easy there as it had been at Calais to get the gyro-car passed. Maurice was ignorant of the regulations, whereas he had little doubt that the pursuers were well informed on all essential points.
“The worst of it is,” he said to George, “they are so horribly persistent that we hardly dare stop even for a meal. They are determined to run us down.”
“Couldn’t we lay a trap for them and smash up their old motor?” suggested George.
“It’s too dangerous a game to play. We might trap the wrong people. And I confess I take a sporting interest in the race. We don’t want to harm the fellows; they are only doing what they are paid for. I regard it as a match between our Government and the Austrian, and so much the more credit to us if we play the game.”
“They won’t scruple about playing the game.”
“That hardly absolves us, does it? Their only chance of getting my despatch is to overhaul us and take it by main force, so that it’s essential that we should keep ahead of them. We have managed to delay them at the level crossings; we must see what we can do at Modane, and if you’re game, and we get through, we’ll go right on to Turin.”
“Don’t you want your dinner?” asked George.