"Burroughs, Edgar Rice - The Mad King" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs Edgar Rice)

dent that the horse had been running for some distance, yet
its speed was still that of the thoroughly frightened runaway.

The road at the point where the animal had passed Custer
was cut from the hillside. At the left an embankment rose
steeply to a height of ten or fifteen feet. On the right there
was a drop of a hundred feet or more into a wooded ravine.
Ahead, the road apparently ran quite straight and smooth
for a considerable distance.

Barney Custer knew that so long as the road ran straight
the girl might be safe enough, for she was evidently an
excellent horsewoman; but be also knew that if there should
be a sharp turn to the left ahead, the horse in his blind
fright would in all probability dash headlong into the ravine
below him.

There was but a single thing that the man might attempt
if he were to save the girl from the almost certain death
which seemed in store for her, since he knew that sooner or
later the road would turn, as all mountain roads do. The
chances that he must take, if he failed, could only hasten the
girl's end. There was no alternative except to sit supinely by
and see the fear-crazed horse carry its rider into eternity, and
Barney Custer was not the sort for that role.

Scarcely had the beast come abreast of him than his foot
leaped to the accelerator. Like a frightened deer the gray
roadster sprang forward in pursuit. The road was narrow.
Two machines could not have passed upon it. Barney took
the outside that he might hold the horse away from the
dangerous ravine.

At the sound of the whirring thing behind him the animal
cast an affrighted glance in its direction, and with a little
squeal of terror redoubled its frantic efforts to escape. The
girl, too, looked back over her shoulder. Her face was very
white, but her eyes were steady and brave.

Barney Custer smiled up at her in encouragement, and the
girl smiled back at him.

"She's sure a game one," thought Barney.

Now she was calling to him. At first he could not catch
her words above the pounding of the horse's hoofs and the
noise of his motor. Presently he understood.

"Stop!" she cried. "Stop or you will be killed. The road
turns to the left just ahead. You'll go into the ravine at that