ople were made to walk and some to ride. I had to
hoof it at first. I like riding better--don't you?"

"To be perfectly honest--yes!"

The car leaped forward again, the horn screaming. The wheel passed
within a foot of a fat woman's skirt. With a cry of terror she fled to
the sidewalk and shook her fist at Jim, her face purple with anger.

He waved his hand back at her:

"Never touched you, dearie! Never touched you!"

Mary lost all fear of accident and watched him handle the machine with
the skill of a master. She could understand now the spirit of deviltry
in a chauffeur who knows his business. It seemed a wicked, cruel thing
from the ground--this swift plunge of a car as if bent on murder. But
now that she felt the sure, velvet grip of the brake in a master's hand,
she saw that the danger was largely a myth.

It was fun to see people jump at the approach of an avalanche of steel
that always stopped just short of harm. Of course, it took a steady
nerve and muscle to do the trick. The man by her side had both. He was
always smiling. Nothing rattled him.

Her trust was now implicit. She relaxed the tension of the first two
hours of doubt and fear, and yielded to the spell of his strength. It
seemed inseparable from the throbbing will of the giant machine. He was
its incarnate spirit. She was being swept through space now on the wings
of omnipotent power--but power always obedient to her whim.

With steady, even pulse they glided down the long, broad Avenue to
Prospect Park, swung through its winding lanes, on through the streets
of Brooklyn and once more into the open road.

"Now for Long Beach and a good lunch!" he cried. "I'll show you
something--but you'll have to shut your eyes to see it."

With a sudden bound, the car leaped into the air, and shot through the
sky with the hiss and shriek of a demon.

The girl caught her breath and instinctively gripped his arm.

"Look out, Kiddo!" he shouted. "Don't touch me--or we'll both land in
Kingdom Come. I ain't ready for a harp just yet. I'd rather fool with
this toy for a while down here."

She braced her feet and gripped the sides of the car, gasping for
breath, steadied herself at last and crouched low among the furs to
guard her throat from the icy daggers of the wind.

The landscape whirled in a circle of trees and sky, while above the dark
line of hills hung the boiling cauldron of cloud-banked heavens.

"Are you game?" he called above the roar.

"Y