Page:Vance--The trey o hearts.djvu/288



UT Tom Bacus hadn't failed to profit by the warning implied in Alan's accident. Alan, he told himself, would never have run his cycle at so foolhardy a pace without good reason, and under the circumstances good reason was synonymous solely with pursuit.

He was therefore on the alert, quick to see the racing automobile when it came hurtling round the bend, and in the nick of time grasped Judith's arm and swung her back with him out of harm's way.

His motor-cycle, abandoned in the middle of the road, was struck by the motor-car and flung halfway down the enbankment, a hopeless tangle of shattered tubing and twisted wire. As the collision took place, he saw Jimmy seated beside Marrophat, who drove, swing a magazine gun round and let it off at hopeful random. The bullet lodged in a tree-trunk. Judith fired in response. But her shot flew wild, and the racing-car flew on, as if on the wings of the wind.

At first blush it seemed surprising that the car did not stop. But Barcus reminded himself that 252