s talked incessantly to one
another and the hounds were hot on the chase.

It was about halfway between midnight and morning when John stopped the
machine among dense pines on the very crest of a mountain, where the
road, without any reason, seemed to end. Antoine awoke with a start and,
springing out, began to curse himself under his breath for having gone
to sleep.

"Take no blame, Antoine," said John. "You could have done nothing then,
and it was much better for you to have slept. You now have back all your
strength and we may need it."

Julie awoke with a start and after a moment or two of bewilderment
understood. Then she gave John that old brilliant, flashing look,
softened now by the memory of a kiss when no hand was at the wheel.

"Julie," said John, trusting as ever in her courage, "we seem to have
come to the end of things. Our enemies are in the valley following us,
and it's not hard to trace the path of our automobile. I don't know how
many will come, but Antoine and I can make a stand with the rifles."

"All hope is not yet lost!" said Suzanne, in a voice as deep as that of
a man. "Remember that when the earth cannot hide us the air may open to
receive us. Remember, too, Mademoiselle Julie, that your brother seeks
you, and when the time comes we are to look aloft."

Driven again by that extraordinary impulse, John and Julie gazed up. But
they saw only the dancing stars in the blue velvet of the sky.

"He may come! He may come in time!" said Suzanne, speaking like an
inspired prophet of old, and her manner carried conviction. John,
clinging to the last desperate hope, recalled how Lannes and he had
summoned Castelneau and Mery from the sky to save them, and though it
was a wild hope he resolved to send up the same signal.

It was a quick task to gather dry wood and build a little heap, Julie
and Suzanne helping with energy and enthusiasm. There were plenty of
matches in the car, and presently John lighted the heap, which crackled
and sent up leaping tongues of flame.

"It may serve also as a signal to those who follow us," he said, "but
we must take the chance. Cavalry can't reach us except by the road that
we came and with our rifles we can hold it a long time."

The mention of the word "rifle," put a thought in the head of Antoine
Picard, in whose veins the blood of Vikings flowed, and who that night
was a veritable Viking of the land. Leaving John and the two women to
feed the signal fire, he s