police believed that they had frightened it away, that it was never
to be, heard of more, well, the police were mistaken which happens in
America as elsewhere.

The first stunned moment of surprise having passed,
many people rushed to the telephones to warn those further
along the route of the danger which menaced, not only the
people, but also the automobiles scattered along the road.

When this terrible madman arrived like an avalanche they would be
smashed to pieces, ground into powder, annihilated!

And from the collision might not the destroyer himself emerge safe
and sound? He must be so adroit, this chauffeur of chauffeurs, he
must handle his machine with such perfection of eye and hand, that he
knew, no doubt, how to escape from every situation. Fortunately the
Wisconsin authorities had taken such precautions that the road would
be clear except for contesting automobiles. But what right had this
machine among them!

And what said the racers themselves, who, warned by telephone, had to
sheer aside from the road in their struggle for the grand prize? By
their estimate, this amazing vehicle was going at least one hundred
and thirty miles an hour. Fast as was their speed, it shot by them at
such a rate that they could hardly make out even the shape of the
machine, a sort of lengthened spindle, probably not over thirty feet
long. Its wheels spun with such velocity that they could scarce be
seen. For the rest, the machine left behind it neither smoke nor
scent.

As for the driver, hidden in the interior of his machine, he had been
quite invisible. He remained as unknown as when he had first appeared
on the various roads throughout the country.

Milwaukee was promptly warned of the coming of this interloper. Fancy
the excitement the news caused! The immediate purpose agreed upon was
to stop this projectile, to erect across its route an obstacle
against which it would smash into a thousand pieces. But was there
time? Would not the machine appear at any moment? And what need was
there, since the track ended on the edge of Lake Michigan, and so the
vehicle would be forced to stop there anyway, unless its supernatural
driver could ride the water as well as the land.

Here, also, as all along the route, the most extravagant suggestions
were offered. Even those who would not admit that the mysterious
chauffeur must be Satan in person allowed that he might be some
monster escaped from the fantastic visions of the A