Not a word was spoken. Scurrying masses of cloud swept the sky above and only at intervals did rifts appear where the moon shone through, relieving for the moment the heavy darkness. Over to the south and back to the west the inky clouds were rolling up like wind-tossed mountains. Flashes of lightning came more and more often, and after each the thunder crashed or rumbled in the distance. The lonely woodlands, and the wildness of the unused, brush-grown fields were almost terrifying as each sharp and sudden glare fell for an instant on them.
All within a second the flying car drew near and passed the darker shadows that marked the miller’s grim old house, the mill, the pond, the icehouse. Over the bridge and up the grade—a stretch of level road, then down the slope to the swampy spot where the Six was ditched that other time, then up again and on!
“Stop here, David.” Always that same easy, gentle tone, but Mack obeyed the order instantly.
“You know this road. Could you go forward without lights?” And without waiting for an answer, “Will you put them out, Way?”
Every light was extinguished. The car stood in total darkness, but stood for a second only. “Just as quietly as you can,” requested Mr. Rack, as MacLester slipped the clutch to place again.
“Now,” said the detective, “I am going to tell you that this may be a wild goose chase, though I think not. I don’t believe any of you will need leave the car, but, Phil, you take this revolver. If you hear me shout, ‘close in,’ come to me instantly. The rest of you stand ready for any instructions that may be necessary.”
Almost noiselessly the big machine purred forward, more slowly now but still at good speed. In wonder and excitement the Auto Boys sat silent as the darkness round them. And while they were at tension that strained every nerve, the calm tranquillity of Mr. Bob Rack was, by contrast, the more amazing.
“I suppose,” said he, softly, quite as if he might have been gently musing before a pleasant fireplace in the quiet of home, “I suppose the truest words ever put in verse are those which say——
“‘Truth crushed to earth will rise again.
“But error, wounded, writhes in pain