THE FLYING MERCURY
THE
FLYING
MERCURY
By
ELEANOR M INGRAM
Author of
THE GAME AND THE CANDLE
With Illustrations by
EDMUND FREDERICK
Decorations by
BERTHA STUART
INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright 1910
The Bobbs-Merrill Company
To
MY MOST DELIGHTFUL COMRADES AND
INDULGENT MOTOR INSTRUCTORS
—MY TWO BROTHERS
I
he roaring reports of the motor fell into abrupt silence, as thedriver brought his car to a halt.
"You signaled?" he called across the grind of set brakes.
In the blending glare of the searchlights from the two machines, thegray one arriving and the limousine drawn to the roadside, the younggirl stood, her hand still extended in the gesture which had stoppedthe man who now leaned across his wheel.
"Oh, please," she appealed again.
On either side stretched away the Long Island meadows, dark,soundless, appar[2]ently uninhabited. Only this spot of light broke themonotony of dreariness. A keen, chill, October wind sighed past,stirring the girl's delicate gown as its folds lay unheeded in thedust, fluttering her fur-lined cloak and shaking two or three childishcurls from the bondage of her velvet hood. The driver swung himselfdown and came toward her with the unhasting swiftness of one trainedto the unexpected.
"I beg pardon—can I be of some use?" he asked.
"We are lost," she confessed hurriedly. "If you could set us right, Ishould be grateful. I—we must get home soon. I have been a guest at ahouse somewhere here, and started to return to New York thisafternoon. The chauffeur does not know Long Island; we can not seemto[3] find any place. And now we have lost a tire. I was afraid—"
She broke off abruptly, as her companion descended from the limousine.
"We only want to know the way; we're all right," he explained. "Thisis my c