"The poor chaps may be making a mistake.

Give the Colonel a chance." "Shall we go back, then ?" asked the Professor.
"No," said Ratcliffe in a cold voice, "the street behind us is held too.
In fact, I seem to see there another friend of yours, Syme." Syme spun round smartly, and stared backwards at the track which they had travelled.

He saw an irregular body of horsemen gathering and galloping towards them in the gloom.

He saw above the foremost saddle the silver gleam of a sword, and then as it grew nearer the silver gleam of an old man's hair.

The next moment, with shattering violence, he had swung the motor round and sent it dashing down the steep side street to the sea, like a man that desired only to die.
"What the devil is up ?" cried the Professor, seizing his arm.
"The morning star has fallen!" said Syme, as his own car went down the darkness like a falling star.
The others did not understand his words, but when they looked back at the street above they saw the hostile cavalry coming round the corner and down the slopes after them; and foremost of all rode the good innkeeper, flushed with the fiery innocence of the evening light.
"The world is insane!" said the Professor, and buried his face in his hands.
"No," said Dr.Bull in adamantine humility, "it is I." "What are we going to do ?" asked the Professor.
"At this moment," said Syme, with a scientific detachment, "I think we are going to smash into a lamppost." The next instant the automobile had come with a catastrophic jar against an iron object.