They got safely past the hand-cart, and a brief interval of tranquillity followed as they trotted briskly down Ludgate Hill.

“He won’t have time to look at anything now,” said Archie cheerfully.

The words had scarcely left his lips when the tire of a stationary car they were passing exploded with a report like a rifle shot.  In a second Archie’s animal leapt into the air, struck the ground with all four hoofs together—­and bolted.

“My man’s got him,” said Archie.  “Sit still!  Nothing’s going to happen.”

He put his arm in front of Nina and gripped the farther side of the hansom.

But Nina had not the smallest intention of losing her head.  During the first few moments her sensations were more of breathless interest than fear.  Certainly she was very far from panic.

She saw the roadway before them clear as if by magic before their galloping advance.  She heard shouts, warning cries, yells of excitement.  She also heard, very close to her, Archie’s voice, swearing so evenly and deliberately that she was possessed by an insane desire to laugh at him.  Above everything else, she heard the furious, frantic rhythm of the flying hoofs before them.  And yet somehow inexplicably she did not at first feel afraid.

They tore with a speed that seemed to increase momentarily straight down the thoroughfare that a few seconds before had seemed choked with traffic.  They shaved by vans, omnibuses, hand-barrows.  Houses and shops seemed to whirl past them, like a revolving nightmare—­ever the same, yet somehow ever different.  A train was thundering over the bridge as they galloped beneath it.  The maddened horse heard and stretched himself to his utmost speed.

And then came tragedy—–­ the tragedy that Nina always felt that she had known from the beginning of that wild gallop must come.

As they raced on to Ludgate Circus she had a momentary glimpse of a boy on a bicycle traversing the street before them at right angles.  Archie ceased suddenly to swear.  The reins that till then had been taut sagged down abruptly.  He made a clutch at them and failed to catch them.  They slipped away sideways and dragged on the ground.

There came a shock, a piercing cry.  Nina started forward for the first time, but Archie flung his arms round her, holding her fast.  Then they were free of the obstacle and dashing on again.

“Let me see!” she gasped.  “Let me see!”

They bumped against a curb and nearly overturned.  Then one of their wheels caught another vehicle.  The hansom was whizzed half round, but the pitiless hoofs still tore on and almost miraculously the worst was still averted.

Archie’s hold was close and nearly suffocated her; but over his shoulder Nina still managed to look ahead.

And thus looking she saw the most wonderful, and the most terrifying, episode of the whole adventure.

She saw a man in faultless City attire leap suddenly from the footway to the road in front of them.  For a breathless instant she saw him poised to spring, and in her heart there ran a sudden, choking sense of anguished recognition.  She shut her eyes and cowered in Archie’s arms.  Deliverance was coming.  She felt it in every nerve.  But how?  And by whom?