to
reverse and killed the engine.

"The street is closed below," she said. "Crank up, the engine is dead."

McCarthy leaped from the car and cranked rapidly. A precious minute
was lost before the engine throbbed and the girl, turning the car
quickly, ran back a block, swung across to a side street and raced for
the station.

"The captain of the bell boys is waiting with the tickets. I sent him
before I left the hotel," she said without lifting her eyes. "Jump
from the car the moment I stop. He'll meet you at the gate."

"Two minutes--can we make it?" he asked.

"We'll try." Her face was set and white. She whirled the corner of
the avenue onto the side street at full speed. A block and a half away
was the station. The car was at racing speed now. The girl kept the
siren screaming, hoping for a clear way. They tore toward the
intersection of the streets--and directly ahead a lumbering team of
horses, drawing a heavy wagon, trundled across their path. With a
sudden swerve, a grinding of the emergency and a sickening lurch, the
car checked its mad flight, scraped past the rear of the wagon, and
gathering speed renewed the race against time.

"Goodbye," he said, leaning suddenly inward as the car commenced to
lose momentum. "When I come back"----

"Hurry, hurry," she pleaded. "Run"----

He leaped before the car stopped and, with one glance back toward her,
sprinted down the long passageway.

The gate was closing. He cried aloud, and ran faster. The gate
clanged. A boy in uniform ran to him and shoved tickets into his hands
as they ran side by side.

"Open it! Let me through!" he screamed at the gateman, just starting
to lock the gate.

McCarthy was sprinting desperately in pursuit of the train already half
way down the long train shed. He ran until his heart pounded audibly
against his ribs, straining every muscle, and crying for the train to
stop. Faster and faster it went, and, near the end of the station,
McCarthy realized he had lost the race and, stopping, he stood
dejectedly looking after the rapidly disappearing observation car.

The gateman let him out with a sympathetic word, but he did not raise
his head. He knew that, 235 miles away, twenty men were hoping for his
arrival. He would hire a special train. He whirled at the
thought--and then remembered he was without money.

He felt a hand touch his arm and, turning quickly, he saw Betty Tabor.

"I missed it," he said, hopeles