"The Esser Company. It’s a German cement concern, I believe."
"In the hills back of the Récollette. They run barges to Ausone. Just below their canal the Récollette becomes unnavigable, and the shallows and rapids continue for several miles below Saïs. That is the reason, I suppose, that the country around Saïs remains primitive and undeveloped, lacking as it does railroad and water transportation."
"I wonder," said Halkett thoughtfully, "whether I might see the quarry and cement works. It must be interesting."
"If that sort of thing interests you, I’ll take you over. It’s a messy place full of stone crushers and derricks and broken rock and pits full of green water. Still, if you want to see it——"
Warner glanced at him; a slight grin touched his lips.
"You seem to be interested in a great many kinds of business," he said, "—literature, military science, cement works, cabaret life——"
Halkett laughed outright; but the next moment he turned like a flash in his seat, and Warner also cast a quick glance behind him.
"A car coming!" he said, driving to the right. "What’s the matter, Halkett? You don’t think it’s after us?"
"I know damned well it is!" said Halkett between his teeth. "Shall I jump and swim for it? Pull in a moment, Warner——"
"Wait! Do you see that gate in the hedge? Get out and open it. Quick, Halkett! I know what to do——"
Halkett leaped, dragged open the gate; Warner swung his horse and drove through and out into a swampy meadow set with wild flowers and bushes and slender saplings.
The wheels of the cart cut through the spongy sod and sank almost to the hubs, but Warner used his whip and Halkett, taking the horse by the head, ran forward beside the swaying cart. Right across their path flowed a deep, narrow stream, partly invisible between reeds and tufts of swamp weed; Warner turned the vehicle with difficulty, urged his nervous horse across a cattle bridge which had been fashioned out of a few loose planks, and drove up on firmer ground among tall ferns and willow bushes.
"Pull up those planks!" he shouted back to Halkett, guiding his horse with difficulty; and Halkett ran back, lifted the mossy, half rotted planks, and threw them up among the bushes.
A grey touring car which had halted on the highway outside the hedge had now turned after them through the gate; and already the driver was having a bad time of it in the swampy meadow.