A QUESTION OF SPEED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19879, 24 February 1928, Page 5

A QUESTION OF SPEED.

(SHORT STORY.) !

BY J. RUSSELL PLATTEJT.

In the eyes of Patrick McLeod . there were two classes of people only—motorists and non-motorists. Pat was a motorcyclist, which was several degrees worse still, . No finer authority on the contour of a speed cam, or the timing of a valve existed. As if this were not already sufficient handicap to a useful career, a malignant fate had further foisted upon his unsuspecting innocence, a handsome frame, a pair of laughing eyes, a disposition filled with unquenchable optimism, and comfortable fortune. On a bright May morning Pat wheeled his ancient bus out of the garage and negligently trod on the kick-starter. Contrary to what appearance might have led one to expect, the engine sprang at once to life. The present fashion in motor-cycles, as outlined in the technical press, is all for cleanliness—clean lines, clean handle-bars, clean everything; but Pat's mount was not clean anywhere that could be noticed with the naked eye. The nickel was rusted, and the enamel was chipped and a generous mixture of mud and oil coated the crankcase and gear-box, which, together with a tangle of odd wires festooned at various strategical points about the frame, gave the whole contraption a woebegone appearance, that -was only belied by the healthy cackle of the exhaust. Pat had not the haziest idea whither he was bound, but once he was clear of tram lines, he proceeded to get there at a very creditable pace indeed—until, on rounding an unexpected corner, he observed a large car back out of a concealed gateway directly in front of him. " Damn!" said Pat as he trod on everything. " Damn! " he repeated a split second later, as he extricated himself and his machine from the hedge into which he had plunged after the most hair-raising skid in all his large and varied experience!. Even as his tongue formed; the word 'a third time, the tace of a car's driver was turned toward him, and the exclamation was strangled at birth. " Sorry!" said Pat, as he looked into the most beautiful pair of feminine eyes that it had yet been his good fortune to encounter. " Sorry! I didn't know there were ladies about.

" There aren't," responded the vision, " only me, and it was ray fg,ult, so please go on. I know you are longing to tell me that I don't know the first thing about motoring, and never should, have been trusted with a car." " I was," said Pat truthfully, accenting the past tense, " but I don't think I shall now." "In any case yoa would have been right as to the first part." " And entirely wrong with regard to the second 7" queried her victim with one of his disarming smiles. " Entirely," the girl agreed; " you see, I never have been trusted with a car. I pinched this one!" after which surprising statement, she proceeded to clamber from her seat and to enter npon a violent struggle with the starting handle. For a moment Pat turned this surprising information over in his mind. She didn't look at all like his idea of the conventional car thief, but he knew that educated women were taking up strange pro* fessions in these days. " Allow me," he remarked, casting his reflections aside, and going like a true knight to her assistance, as she straightened up and stood panting after her third unsuccessful attempt to start the engine. Once, twice, thrice, he swung the handle with a practised hand, but no explosion rewarded his efforts; then he turned his attention to the interior of the bonnet. A few seconds here were sufficient. "No petrol!" he diagnosed. " How careless of you not to have seen that | they filled the tank before you bagged it! " Oh!" said the girl, and he saw that this last information perturbed her very much, " whatever shall we do now ? I daren't go back for any more!" " I should jolly well think not!" Pat agreed with energy. "If you take my advice you'll leave the wretched thing where it is and trickle down the road with me before the police happen along." His companion turned to him in surprise. " The police 1" she said. " What have they got to do with it?" " Well," ' pointed out Pat, " yog can hardly' pinch a fellow's car and expect him not to kick up a row about it, can you?" To his intense surprise her answer was a peal of silvery laughter. Why, you silly boy, it's father's car. You surely didn't think—•" A further gust of laughter finished the sentence. " I did, said Pat, " but then Fm famous for that sort of thing, so don't let that worry you." " Still, you're rather a dear," she conceded. "Even thinking what you did, you offered to ' trickle down the road' with me, didn't you?" The delightful way in which she mimicked his own words set his heart beating violently. " Oh, beauty in distress and all that sort of rot. you know," he murmured apologetically. " What's tha next item on the programme?" " I really don't know," she replied. "I'm in a dreadful hole. I've got to be in Porchester by twelve, -nd now I don't know how I'm ever going to do it." "Easy," said Pat, "you've got. two hours, and a train will get you there in tons of time." The girl looked at him in frank amazement. " Don't yon ever read the papers?" she asked. " There is a railway strike on." " Good Lord, so there is," said Pat. " I don't use trains much myself, you know. Is this Porchester business frightfully important?" "Frightfully!" she agreed. "I promised to meet Frank there outside the registry office punctually at twelve. He's made all the arrangements and now I don't know what to do." Neither did Pat. So she was running away to be married! That was the second shock which she had given him, and on the whole he far preferred the first. Better to think of her as a car thief than respectably married to some other fellow and lost to himself ?or ever. Pat was beginning to dislike the unknown Frankvery heartily indeed, when his sense of humour came to his assistance and he gave vent to a hearty laugh. After all, he was always looking for adventure and what better one could he have than to restore a blushing bride-to-be to the arms of her prospective husband after a thrilling ride against time ? Cheer up!" he said. " How far is this Porchester by road ?" " About thirty-five -miles," she answered. " I asked father casually last night, when 'I first thought, of using tha car." " You've got plenty of pluck, anyway," he told her admiringly; "how, if you will kindly take a seat on the flapperbracket of Excalibur there, we will get you to your destination in no time." " Do you mean your motor bike ?" she asked, promptly climbing to her seat on the pillion. " I thought Excalibur was the name of a sword." "So it was," he agreed. " You see, thsra was a spell woven about the original Excalibur, and I've sometimes thought the same about my old bus when I've tried to start her up on a particularly cold morning." She laughed. " Can we get there in time, do you think?" she queried as he slid in tha clutch and they sped off down the road. " Barring accidents, I don't see why we .shouldn't," he assured her. " I know the old grid wouldn't carry off the Kudos in a beauty competition, but she was lapping Brooklands at' seventy-five of the best per hour, last week," " Oh, are you a racing man ?" Her tone showed that she was pleasantly thrilled. " I have done a goodish bit," he admitted, " but tuning is my great stunt." "How splendid/' she admired, "I know the names of all the bijg men in the game, and love to read about them. Do you meet Bullin and Le Yacque and Pat McLeod t"

(COPYAIGRT.)

"Sometimes," said Pat, with becoming modesty. "I know McLeod pretty- well " "That's fine!" she answered with enthusiasm. "Of course, MpLeod isn't in it with the other two, but I'm comisg to .Brooklands one day, . and if I see you there, you shall introduce me to them ail -" , , "Sure thing!" Pat promised, feeling that but for the shadow of the waiting Frank he would look forward to the prospect with a great deal more pleasure. "Your family must be frightfully proud of your skill!" she remarked. "But you're nob married, I suppose 1" "No," said Pat simply, "I'm a motorcyclist!" "Are the two incompatible, then: she laughed. "Absolutely!" Pat assured her in solemn tones, adjusting his haii<sle-bar mirror, the better to obtain an unobstructed view of the inviting expanse of silk stocking thrust out so alluringly behind him, "The beginning of one is tho end of the other. Only a few months ago, one of my best pals swallowed the hook and got himself engaged to a fair young damsel who worshipped the track he rode over. Now you can see him any Saturday on the Southend Road with a yindem and an auto-wheel, taking his missus for a breath of air, before she tucks him up for the night!— Where do you want me to drop you t" he added. "This is our destination, and you have a good forty minutes to spare." "Will you stop at that hotel over there, then," she asked. "As I have a little time in hand, I think a good wash and a cup of tea before the ceremony will put me at peace with all the world. Thanks awfully for what you have done. It got me out of a terrible hole, and I enjoyed the rid 9 Immensely." "So did I," said Pat, "and thai is what J. came'out for, So you don't owe me any thanks." They slid up to the building she had indicated, and came to a stop."This," said he, as she alighted, "is good-bye, I suppose?" "I suppose it is," she assented, -"unless—" "Unless what?" he queried eagerly. "Unless you should happen to be passing this way in about an hour's time and would take me home again; but that 13 almost too much to ask, isn't it ?" "Not a bit of it!" expostulated Pat indignantly, "just a bit of something to eat, a gallon of juice for the old bus, and you will find me here waiting when you are ready to return." As a matter of fact, that hour and the better part of the following bne had dragged away before he again saw her crossing the street towards him. "Sorry to keep you waiting," she apologised. "Frank insisted on a little something to celebrate the occasion before we parted."' "Of course he did," said Pat. "I'm only surprised he let you go so soon." "Why shouldn't he?" she queried. "I could see that he and Constance were dying to be alone." "Jumping jellyfish!" Pat exclaimed. "Dying to be alone with Constance, and you tod he only just married!'" "Don't be silly!" she said. "Frank is my brother, and even apart from the table of affinity, I don't get a look in with him, when Connie is about," "Jump on!" said Pat, and swerved round the'front of a bos to his own entire satisfaction and to the profane indignation of that useful vehicle's driver. The manner of their exodus from the town was marked by the most supreme disregard for'the lives and limbs of its inhabitants, but the heart of Pat McLeod was bounding, and nothing but speed, speed, and yet more speed could match the exultation within him. Not till they were well into the couptry did he slacken hfs pace; then, bending forward, he snatched the lead from one of the plugs. Abruptly the even bear, of the engine changed, and Pat brought his mount to a standstill at the base of a convenient grass-covered bank. "Ignition trouble," he announced briefly and truthfully. "If you will take a seat on that likely-looking bank, we will have it right again in a brace of shakes." Carefully he replaced the broken lead, and then, leaving the machinej on its stand, came and flung himself on the grass beside her. "I'm Pat McLeod," he said"l know!" she answered. "I recognised you at once by your photographs in the papers. Fancy you coming along just at the right moment. I've often longed to meet yon." "And. I," said« Pat, "have always longed to meet you, but I didn't know it until tb-dhy, and then I thought you were going to" marry Frank. Ii it isn't awfully impertinent on my part, X wonder if you would mind telling me yonr name ?" "Not at all," she said. "I'm Dapbae Benton, and I live with my father, Coloiiel Benton, at that, house just by where you first met me. Frank Mid father quarrelled about money matters some time ago, arid now father won't see him, or let me sea him, either. When I knew Frank was going to be to&rried, I just had to be there; and so, as I couldn't go by train, I reckoned to get there in thfe car. Then you came along; and yon know the rest, don't you?" "I sure do," said Pat, "and now that I have met you and we have introduced ourselves, I'm not going to let yon go again'in a hurry." "This," laughed Daphne, "is rather sudden, isn't it?" "Speed," agreed Pat, as he reached for, and: imprisoned her hand, "is essential to winning races off the track, as well as on it." - "And what about the awful fate bf your racing friend ?" she parried, "This evening," he laughed, ''before I come to introduce myself to your father, I am going to write an advertisement." "An advertisement ?" she queried. "Whatever for?" "An auto-wheel !" said Pat he kissed her.