Warner was already within speaking distance of Philippa when the girl hailed him.
"Are you hurt?" he called across to her, where she stood knee-deep among the roadside weeds, trying to draw together the points of her torn bodice, to cover her throat and shoulders.
"The tire burst. I have a few scratches!"
"Did he get the papers?" shouted Halkett.
She drew both envelopes from her bosom, and shook them high with a gesture of defiance. Then, replacing them, she made a funnel of her hands and called out to them:
"He crawled under the hedge by that third telephone pole behind you! You have come too far this way! No—the other pole! Wait a moment, Mr. Warner——"
Still calling out her directions in her clear, calm voice, she started to limp down the road toward them; and Warner glanced back at her for a moment; then he suddenly flung up his arm and shouted:
"Philippa! Look out for that car behind you!"
The girl turned, saw the automobile coming, stepped aside into the ditch as a cloud of white dust obscured her.
Before she realized that the car had stopped, three men had jumped out into the ditch and caught hold of her.