Impostors and imposture -- Fiction; Short stories; Swindlers and swindling -- Fiction; Thieves -- Fiction
Each time, with slight dust flying behind, he went round the bend,
Garrett, in his dirty blue clothes, swung himself out to balance the
car, while to the Prince himself all has become a blur. Travelling at
that terrific pace, the slightest swerve would mean a terrible accident,
therefore, he had no eyes save for the track before him. Garrett was
busy every moment with the lubrication, and at the same time both feared
tyre-troubles, the bugbear of the racing motorist. Such speed sets up
tremendous friction and consequent heat, therefore tyre-bursts are
likely, and if a tyre does "go off" while a car is travelling at that
pace, the consequences may be very serious.
Many a bad accident had occurred on that track, and more than one good
man had lost his life. Yet the Prince, sportsman that he was, knowing
that the widow's eyes were upon him, set his teeth hard and drove until
once again he gradually drew away from his opponent, the renowned
Carlier.
There were present representatives of the daily and the motor press.
The race would be chronicled everywhere on the morrow. If the Frenchman
won, it would be an advertisement worth many thousands of pounds to the
firm for whom he was driving.
To-day every maker of motor-cars vies with his competitors, and strives
strenuously to obtain the greatest advertisement. Like so many other
things about us, alas! it is not the quality of the car, or of the
materials used, but a car's excellence seems to be judged by its
popularity. And that popularity is a mere matter of advertisement.
The best car ever turned out by the hand of man would never be looked at
if not advertised and "boomed."
The French driver, a man who had won a dozen races, including the
Circuit of the Ardennes, and the Florio Cup, was trying to get an
advertisement for the particular company for whom he was the
professional racer, while Dick Drummond was merely trying his English
car against the Paris-built variety.
The whirr-r was constant, now approaching and now receding, as the two
cars went round and round the track with monotonous regularity.
Experts, men interested in various makes, stood leaning over the rails
making comment.
It was agreed on every hand that Drummond was a marvel of cool
level-headedness. His driving was magnificent, and yet he had
apparently nothing to gain, even if he won the race. He was not
financially interested, as far as was known, in the make of car he
drove. He was merely a man of means, who had taken up motor-car racing
as a hobby.
The Frenchman drove well, and the race, after the first three-quarters
of an hour, was a keenly contested one. First Drummond would lead, and
then Carlier. Once Drummond spurted and got half a lap ahead, then with
the Frenchman putting on speed, he fell behind again till they were once
more neck and neck.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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