CHAPTER XIII.
CATASTROPHE!
For a time no danger seemed to threaten. Kate was not only fearless as apassenger, but equally intrepid at the wheel. Many a time and oft shehad driven her father's highest-powered car at dizzying speeds alongworse roads than the one her machine was now following. Velocity was toher a kind of stimulant, wonderfully pleasurable; and now, realizingnothing of the truth that Herrick was badly the worse for liquor, sheleaned back in the tonneau, breathed the keen slashing air with delight,and let her eyes wander over the swiftly-changing panorama of forest,valley, lake and hill that, in ever new and more radiant beauty, spedaway, away, as the huge car leaped down the smooth and rushing road.
Dust and pebbles flew in the wake of the machine, as it gatheredvelocity. Beneath it, the highway sped like an endless white ribbon,whirling back and away with smooth rapidity. No common road, this, butone which the State authorities had very obligingly built especially forthe use of millionaires' motor cars, all through the region ofcountry-clubs, parks, bungalows and summer-resorts dotting the westshore region of the Hudson. Let the farmer truck his produce through mudand ruts, if he would. Let the country folk drive their ramshacklebuggies over rocks and stumps, if they so chose. Nothing of that sortfor millionaires! No, _they_ must have macadam and smooth, long curves,easy grades and--where the road swung high above the gleamingriver--retaining walls to guard them from plunging into the palisadedabyss below.
At just such a place it was, where the road made a sharper turn than anythe drunken chauffeur had reckoned on, that catastrophe leaped out toshatter the rushing car.
Only a minute before, Kate--a little uneasy now, at the truly recklessspeeding of the driver, and at the daredevil way in which he was takingcurves without either sounding his siren or reducing speed--had touchedhim on the shoulder, with a command: "Not _quite_ so fast, Herrick! Becareful!"
His only answer had been a drunken laugh.
"Careful nothing!" he slobbered, to himself. "You wanted speed--an'now--hc!--b'Jesus, you _get_--hc!--speed! _I_ ain't'fraid--are--hc!--_you_?"
She had not heard the words, but had divined their meaning.
"Herrick!" she commanded sharply, leaning forward. "What's the matterwith you? Obey me, do you hear? Not so fast!"
A whiff of alcoholic breath suddenly told her the truth. For a secondshe sat there, as though petrified, with fear now for the first timeclutching at her heart.
"Stop at once!" she cried, gripping the man by the collar of his livery."You--you're drunk, Herrick! I--I'll have you discharged, at once, whenwe get home. Stop, do you hear me? You're not fit to drive. I'll takethe wheel myself!"
But Herrick, hopelessly under the influence of the poison, which hadnow produced its full effect, paid no heed.
"Y'--can't dri' _thish_ car!" he muttered, in maudlin accents. "Toobig--too heavy for--hc!--woman! I--_I_ dri' it all right, drunk orsober! Good chauffeur--good car--I know thish car! You won't fireme--hc!--for takin' drink or two, huh? I drive you all ri'--drive you toNew York or to--hc!--Hell! Same thing, no difference, ha! ha!--I--"
A sudden blaze of rage crimsoned the girl's face. In all her life shenever had been thus spoken to. For a second she clenched her fist, asthough to strike down this sodden brute there in the seat before her--afeat she would have been quite capable of. But second thought convincedher of the peril of such an act. Ahead of them a long down-gradestretched away, away, to a turn half-hidden under the arching greenery.As the car struck this slope, it leaped into ever greater speed; andnow, under the erratic guidance of the lolling wretch at the wheel, itbegan to sway in long, unsteady curves, first toward one ditch, then theother.
Another woman would have screamed; might even have tried to jump out.But Kate was not of the hysteric sort. More practical, she.
"I've got to climb over into the front seat," she realized in a flash,"and shut off the current--cut the power off--stop the car!"
On the instant, she acted. But as she arose in the tonneau, Herrick,sensing her purpose, turned toward her in the sudden rage of completeintoxication.
"Naw--naw y' don't!" he shouted, his face perfectly purple with furyand drink. "No woman--he!--runs this old boat while I'm aboard, see? Goon, fire me! _I_ don't give--damn! But you don't run--car! Sit down! _I_run car--New York or Hell--no matter which! _I_--"
Hurtling down the slope like a runaway comet, now wholly out of control,the powerful gray car leaped madly at the turn.
Catherine, her heart sick at last with terror, caught a second's glimpseof forest, on one hand; of a stone wall with tree-tops on some steepabyss below, just grazing it, on the other. Through these trees she sawa momentary flash of water, far beneath.
Then the leaping front wheels struck a cluster of loose pebbles, at thebend.
Wrenched from the drunkard's grip, the steering wheel jerked sharplyround.
A skidding--a crash--a cry!
Over the roadway, vacant now, floated a tenuous cloud of dust andgasoline-vapor, commingled.
In the retaining-wall at the left, a jagged gap appeared. Suddenly, farbelow, toward the river, a crashing detonation shattered harsh echoesfrom shore to shore.
Came a quick flash of light; then thick, black, greasy smoke arose, and,wafting through the treetops, drifted away on the warm wind of that lateJune afternoon.
A man, some quarter of a mile to southward, on the great highway, pausedsuddenly at sound of this explosion.
For a moment he stood there listening acutely, a knotted stick in hand,his flannel shirt, open at the throat, showing a brown and corded neck.The heavy knapsack on his shoulders seemed no burden to that ruggedstrength, as he stood, poised and eager, every sense centered in keenattention.
"Trouble ahead, there, by the Eternal!" he suddenly exclaimed. His eyehad just caught sight of the first trailing wreaths of smoke, from upthe cliff. "An auto's gone to smash, down there, or I'm a plute!"
He needed no second thought to hurl him forward to the rescue. At asmart pace he ran, halloo'ing loudly, to tell the victims--should theystill live--that help was at hand. At his right, extended the wall. Athis left, a grove of sugar-maples, sparsely set, climbed a long slope,over the ridge of which the descending sun glowed warmly. Somewhat backfrom the road, a rough shack which served as a sugar-house for thespring sap-boiling, stood with gaping door, open to all the winds thatblew. These things he noted subconsciously, as he ran.
Then, all at once, as he rounded a sharp turn, he drew up with a cry.
"Down the cliff!" he exclaimed. "Knocked the wall clean out, andplunged! Holy Mackinaw, what a smash!"
In a moment he had reached the scene of the catastrophe. His quick eyetook in, almost at a glance, the skidding mark of the wheels, the raggedrent in the wall, the broken limbs of trees below.
"Some wreck!" he ejaculated, dropping his stick and throwing off hisknapsack. "_Hello, Hello, down there!_" he loudly hailed, scramblingthrough the gap.
From below, no answer.
A silence, as of death, broken only by the echo of his own voice, wasall that greeted his wild cry.
He gathered her up as though she had been a child.]
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