In one breath and the same the lights of the second car swerved in toward
the gateway, and consternation seized hold of Sofia's intelligence and
wiped it clear of all coherence.
Already the strange lamps were staring blankly in between the piers--and
the momentum of Victor's car was too great to be arrested within the
distance. The girl cried out, but didn't know it, and crouched low; the
horn added a squawk of frenzy to a wild clamour of yells; all prefatory to
a scrunching, rending crash as, in the very mouth of the gateway, a front
fender of the incoming car ripped through the rear fender above which Sofia
was sitting. Thrown heavily against Victor, then instantly back to her
place, she felt the car, with brakes set fast, turn broadside to the road,
skid crabwise, and lurch sickeningly into the ditch on the farther side.
For an interminable time, while the ponderous fabric rocked and toppled,
threatening very instant to crash upon its side, the rear wheels spun madly
and the chain-bound tires tore in vain at greasy road metal.
Without clear comprehension of what was happening, Sofia heard shouts from
the other car, now at a standstill, and an oddly syncopated popping. The
window in the door on Victor's side rang like a cracked bell, shivered, and
fell inward, clashing. With a growl of rage, Victor bent forward and
levelled an arm through the opening. From his hand truncated tongues of
orange flame, half a dozen of them, stabbed the gloom to an accompaniment
of as many short and savage barks.
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