Dazedly I watched a little white dog with a black patch take a flying leap into the road, stumble, pick himself up, and hurl himself in the wake of the monster, barking furiously. Then the whirling dust swallowed him up, and I saw him no more.
"LF 8057," said Daphne. "LF 8057. Write it down, somebody. Quick. LF 8057."
"That's right," said Jonah. "I got it too. LF 8057."
In silence I dragged a pencil out of my pocket and with trembling fingers wrote down the precious figures on the back of an envelope.
"Anybody hurt?" continued Jonah, screwing himself round to look at the back seat.
"We're all right," said I. "But it was a close call."
"The brute!" cried Jill passionately. "The beastly stinking----"
Berry spoke between his clenched teeth in a voice shaken with choler.
"We'll have that blistered swine if we have to drag hell for him. For all he knows, the car's overturned and on fire, and we're pinned under it. It's German. Pure full-blooded German. It's the most verminous thing I've ever dreamed of. It's----Burn it! Words fail me."
He rose and got out of the car. I followed him and helped Jill to alight. She was a little pale, and, when she saw the havoc on the off-side, her eyes began to fill with tears.
"Don't worry, darling. It looks worse than it is. And we'll have that merchant's blood. We've got his number."
Daphne came up to comfort her, and Jonah, after a cursory glance at the damage, limped to the opposite side of the road, sat down on the bank, and lighted a cigarette.
"What was he doing?" said Berry, his face still a dark red.
"Shouldn't like to say. Maybe seventy. Maybe more. But it was a frightful pace." I pointed along the road to left and right. "See how it curves. And we're on the outside of the bend. To clear us at that pace, he'd 've had to go over himself."
"All round. We can summon him under the Motor Car Acts and bring a civil action for damages. He ought to go down heavily."
Berry heaved a long sigh and clapped me on the back.
Before doing anything else, Jonah and I subjected the Rolls to a careful examination.
Both wings and the running-board on the off-side had been ripped off, and the front axle was bent by the side of the steering-pin. The off fore-wheel had apparently been struck on the tire, and the fact that neither of the fore-wheels had collapsed spoke volumes for their sturdy construction. The shock, however, had put the steering-gear out of action. So far as we could tell, that was the extent of the damage. Whether any further injuries would later appear, it was impossible to say.