incline towards
Stoney Cross.

Before they had dropped among the trees out of sight of the hill brow,
Jessie looked back and saw the tandem rising over the crest, with its
rear rider just tumbling into the saddle. "They're coming," she said,
and bent her head over her handles in true professional style.

They whirled down into the valley, over a white bridge, and saw ahead
of them a number of shaggy little ponies frisking in the roadway.
Involuntarily they slackened. "Shoo!" said Mr. Hoopdriver, and the
ponies kicked up their heels derisively. At that Mr. Hoopdriver lost his
temper and charged at them, narrowly missed one, and sent them jumping
the ditch into the bracken under the trees, leaving the way clear for
Jessie.

Then the road rose quietly but persistently; the treadles grew heavy,
and Mr. Hoopdriver's breath sounded like a saw. The tandem appeared,
making frightful exertions, at the foot, while the chase was still
climbing. Then, thank Heaven! a crest and a stretch of up and down road,
whose only disadvantage was its pitiless exposure to the afternoon sun.
The tandem apparently dismounted at the hill, and did not appear against
the hot blue sky until they were already near some trees and a good mile
away.

"We're gaining," said Mr. Hoopdriver, with a little Niagara of
perspiration dropping from brow to cheek. "That hill--"

But that was their only gleam of success. They were both nearly spent.
Hoopdriver, indeed, was quite spent, and only a feeling of shame
prolonged the liquidation of his bankrupt physique. From that point the
tandem grained upon them steadily. At the Rufus Stone, it was scarcely
a hundred yards behind. Then one desperate spurt, and they found
themselves upon a steady downhill stretch among thick pine woods.
Downhill nothing can beat a highly geared tandem bicycle. Automatically
Mr. Hoopdriver put up his feet, and Jessie slackened her pace. In
another moment they heard the swish of the fat pneumatics behind them,
and the tandem passed Hoopdriver and drew alongside Jessie. Hoopdriver
felt a mad impulse to collide with this abominable machine as it
passed him. His only consolation was to notice that its riders, riding
violently, were quite as dishevelled as himself and smothered in sandy
white dust.

Abruptly Jessie stopped and dismounted, and the tandem riders shot
panting past them downhill. "Brake," said Dangle, who was riding behind,
and stood up on the pedals. For a moment the vel