"Never! We'll get there yet. Gather up your skirts.... Gad! you're done!" It was his own voice that spoke to her, and for a sudden moment he had forgotten the part he played in the exigencies of this distressing situation. He heard her gasp suddenly, send startled eyes up into his face, and then sway against him, and realized his folly—too late. The shock of the thing had unnerved her. In the darkness she could not see his face clearly but the voice had been—different. He'd brought the whole structure about his ears by one foolish momentary mistake. Then quite suddenly she fainted against him.
"Fool!" he apostrophized himself. "Blind fool!" and, stopping instantly, caught her up in his arms just as the lane hove in sight, and throwing her across his shoulder, took the added burden in his best athletic fashion, and ran.
CHAPTER XXV
THE MAN IN THE BLACK MASK
They reached the motor only just in the nick of time, for already the darkness behind them was rent with cries of "There they are! Head them off!—there they are!" making the night hideous with the noise of them, and the stampede of feet seemed to grow more dense with every minute.
Cleek flung his unconscious burden in the car, leaped in after it, and tapped the chauffeur upon the shoulder.
"Extinguish your lamps and make for Aygon Castle—as quick as you can!" he gave out in the sharp staccato of excitement. "And the quicker the better! There's trouble here, and if those men catch up with us to-night I'll not answer for the lady's safety."
"Yessir."
Then with a whizz and a whirr the car was off, rocketing down the lane and taking the corners upon two wheels, so that Cleek had hardly a breath left in his body, and the rush of air that swept them as they sped away began to revive the unconscious form of Catherine Dowd who lay upon the seat beside him.