ines had been built by the same hand. And beyond doubt,
these were similar engines, which generated this remarkable speed,
more than doubling the previous records of earth and sea.

"The same inventor!" repeated I.

Evidently this hypothesis had strong grounds. The fact that the two
machines had not yet appeared at the same time added weight to the
idea. I murmured to myself, "After the mystery of Great Eyrie, comes
that of Milwaukee and Boston. Will this new problem be as difficult
to solve as was the other?"

I noted idly that this new affair had a general resemblance to the
other, since both menaced the security of the general public. To be
sure, only the inhabitants of the Blueridge region had been in danger
from an eruption or possible earthquake at Great Eyrie. While now, on
every road of the United States, or along every league of its coasts
and harbors, every inhabitant was in danger from this vehicle or this
boat, with its sudden appearance and insane speed.

I found that, as was to be expected, the newspapers not only
suggested, but enlarged upon the dangers of the case. Timid people
everywhere were much alarmed. My old servant, naturally credulous and
superstitious, was particularly upset. That same day after dinner, as
she was clearing away the things, she stopped before me, a water
bottle in one hand, the serviette in the other, and asked anxiously,
"Is there no news, sir?"

"None," I answered, knowing well to what she referred.

"The automobile has not come back?"

"No."

"Nor the boat?"

"Nor the boat There is no news even-in the best informed papers."

"But--your secret police information?"

"We are no wiser."

"Then, sir, if you please, of what use are the police?"

It is a question which has phased me more than once.

"Now you see what will happen," continued the old housekeeper,
complainingly, "Some fine morning, he will come without warning, this
terrible chauffeur, and rush down our street here, and kill us all!"

"Good! When that happens, there will be some chance of catching him."

"He will never be arrested, sir."

"Why not?"

"Because he is the devil himself, and you can't arrest the devil!"

Decidedly, thought I, the devil has many uses; and if he did not
exist we would have to invent him, to give people some way of
explaining the inexplicable. It was he who lit the flames of the
Great Eyrie. It was he who smashed the record in the Wisconsin race.
It is he who is scurry