Once again he maneuvered the car back onto the main highway and then continued through the heart of town. The Mercury was right behind, but now there was a car which had slipped in between. Joe timed his speed again, and once more barely made it through an amber light before the red. The car behind him halted, and so did the Mercury, by necessity. Joe poured on the gas and at the next corner turned right. He sped to the next block, turned right again, then left at an alley. He roared through it, turned right once more, and raced three blocks along the way they had come, and finally made another right turn back to the main street. He was lucky, and made it through a green light. Several more turns, and he headed straight out of town at right angles to his original route. Moments later they found themselves on a gravel road marked County Trunk M. "Is there anything behind us?" asked Joe. Pearl, who had been watching alertly all the while, turned and sat down facing the front again. "Nothing," she said. "You've shaken him." "I was lucky," Joe observed. "Got every break. Now we will take a few byways for awhile, and then take a look at the map and see where we are. We can get to your mother's by another route. We'll get there late tonight, but at least we've lost the Devil for awhile--if that's who he was." "Who else would it have been?" asked Pearl. "Ed Sullivan, trying to sell another Mercury," joked Joe. But deep inside him he didn't feel humorous. Did the Devil have a way of knowing where they were? This first time it was conceivable that he'd caught them leaving the house, and had followed them all the way. But if he hadn't, then he had some other way of knowing, and if that was true, they wouldn't really have ditched him. He'd pick up the trail again, and all his evasive tactics would have been in vain. "He must have followed us from the house," said Pearl suddenly. * * * * * Joe looked at her. "You've been thinking the same thing I have," he said. "I _hope_ that's how he found us!" "I hope so too," said Pearl. "Daddy, I'm hungry," said Jimmy from the back seat. "Okay, son. But you'll have to wait until we find a town. Then we'll stop at a restaurant." "How are you going to find a town on this road?" said Jimmy disgustedly. "Why did you go on such a bumpy road. Is this the way to Grandma's house?" "Not exactly," said Joe. "We just took a little detour." "To keep that man with the horns from following us?" asked Jimmy. Joe gripped the wheel tightly. "Horns?" he asked, staring at Pearl. "What man with horns?" "Why that man we were racing with. He had horns growing out of his head." "I didn't see any horns," said Joe. "He did too have horns," said Jimmy. "I didn't like him, and I'm glad you got away from him. But now I'm hungry." "I'm glad too, son," said Joe. He licked his lips. "But it must have been that man's hair that looked like horns. He didn't really have any."