The car suddenly leaped into the Avenue that runs through the heart of Coney Island, the deep-throated horn screaming its warning.The crowd scattered like sheep before a lion.
The girl laughed in spite of her effort at self- control."Watch 'em hump!" Jim grunted.
"It's funny, isn't it?"
"When you're in the car--yes.It don't seem so funny when you're on foot.Well, some people were made to walk and some to ride.I had to hoof it at first.I like riding better--don't you?""To be perfectly honest--yes!"
The car leaped forward again, the horn screaming.The wheel passed within a foot of a fat woman's skirt.With a cry of terror she fled to the sidewalk and shook her fist at Jim, her face purple with anger.
He waved his hand back at her:
"Never touched you, dearie!Never touched you!"Mary lost all fear of accident and watched him handle the machine with the skill of a master.She could understand now the spirit of deviltry in a chauffeur who knows his business.It seemed a wicked, cruel thing from the ground--this swift plunge of a car as if bent on murder.But now that she felt the sure, velvet grip of the brake in a master's hand, she saw that the danger was largely a myth.
It was fun to see people jump at the approach of an avalanche of steel that always stopped just short of harm.Of course, it took a steady nerve and muscle to do the trick.The man by her side had both.He was always smiling.Nothing rattled him.
Her trust was now implicit.She relaxed the tension of the first two hours of doubt and fear, and yielded to the spell of his strength.It seemed inseparable from the throbbing will of the giant machine.He was its incarnate spirit.She was being swept through space now on the wings of omnipotent power--but power always obedient to her whim.
With steady, even pulse they glided down the long, broad Avenue to Prospect Park, swung through its winding lanes, on through the streets ofBrooklyn and once more into the open road.
"Now for Long Beach and a good lunch!" he cried."I'll show you something--but you'll have to shut your eyes to see it."With a sudden bound, the car leaped into the air, and shot through the sky with the hiss and shriek of a demon.
The girl caught her breath and instinctively gripped his arm.
"Look out, Kiddo!" he shouted."Don't touch me--or we'll both land in Kingdom Come.I ain't ready for a harp just yet.I'd rather fool with this toy for a while down here."She braced her feet and gripped the sides of the car, gasping for breath, steadied herself at last and crouched low among the furs to guard her throat from the icy daggers of the wind.
The landscape whirled in a circle of trees and sky, while above the dark line of hills hung the boiling cauldron of cloud-banked heavens.
"Are you game?" he called above the roar."Yes," she gasped."Don't stop----"Her soul had risen at last to the ecstasy of the mania for speed that fired the man's spirit and nerved his hand.It was inconceivable until experienced--this awful joy! Her spirit sank with childish disappointment as he slowly lowered the power.
"Got to take a sharp curve down there," he explained."We turn to the right for the meadows and the Beach--how was that?""Wonderful," she cried, with dancing eyes."Let her go again if you want to--I'm game--now."Jim laughed.
"A little rattled at first?" "Yes----"
"Well, we can't let her out on this road.It's too narrow--have to take a ditch sometimes to pass.That wouldn't do for an eighty-mile clip, you know--now would it?""Hardly."
"I might risk it alone--but my first name's `Old Man Caution' today-- you get me?"Mary nodded and turned her head away again.
"I got you the first time, sir," she answered playfully taking his tone.
He ran the car into the garage at the Beach, sprang out and lifted Mary to the ground with quick, firm hand.They threw off their heavy coats and left them.
"Look out for this junk now, sonny," he cried to the attendant, tossing him a half dollar.
"Sure, Mike!"
"Fill her up to the chin by the time we get back." "Righto!"Quickly they walked to the hotel and in five minutes were seated beside a window in the dining-room, watching the lazy roll of the sea sweep in on the sands at low tide.
"I'm hungry as a wolf!" he whispered."So am I----""We'll eat everything in sight--start at the top and come down."He handed her the menu card and watched her from the depths beneath the drooping eyelids.
Conscious of his gaze and rejoicing in its frank admiration, she ordered the dinner with instinctive good taste.No effort at conversation was made by either.They were both too hungry.As Jim lighted his cigarette when the coffee was served, he leaned back in his chair and watched the breakers in silence.
"That's the best dinner I ever had in my life," he said slowly.
"It was good.We were hungry." "I've been hungry before, many a time.It was something else, too." He paused and rose abruptly."Let's walk up the Beach.""I'd love to," she answered, slowly rising.
