“You’re very kind!” with another bow.
He sprang forward and opened the gate. Davila thanked him with a smile, and she and Elaine went in, leaving the strangers to follow.
The next instant, each girl was struggling in the folds of a shawl, which had been flung over her from behind and wrapped securely around her head and arms, smothering her cries to a mere whisper. In a trice, despite their struggles—which, with heads covered and arms held close to their sides, were utterly unavailing—they were caught up, tossed into the tonneau, and the car shot swiftly away.
In a moment, it was clear of the town, the driver “opened her up,” and they sped through the country at thirty miles an hour.
“Better give them some air,” said the leader. “It doesn’t matter how much they yell here.”
He had been holding Elaine on his lap, his arms keeping the shawl tight around her. Now he loosed her, and unwound the folds.
“You will please pardon the liberty we have taken,” he said, as he freed her, “but there are——”
Crack!
Elaine had struck him straight in the face with all her strength, and, springing free, was on the 284 point of leaping out, when he seized her and forced her back, caught her arms in the shawl, which was still around her, and bound them tight to her side.
“Better be a little careful, Bill!” he said. “I got an upper cut on the jaw that made me see stars.”