ABSTRACT
To rush through the air at the speed of a torpedo-boat destroyer, down a narrow, curving road, enclosed with hedges, and without being able to see what was to the front of us, was a novel and thrilling experience. The gradient is very steep. One minute we were 500 feet above the sea level, and the next 300 feet only. We had accomplished this rapid descent of 200 feet in a few seconds of breathless suspense, when the slightest error of steering would have landed us into one bank or the other, or plunged us into the midst of cyclists who were waiting at the bottom of the hill to see how we should take this admittedly awkward piece of country. We did it magnificently, without a swerve. And all the while our motor was actively impelling us onward, adding to the velocity which had been already imparted to the vehicle by the momentum. It was a grand sensation, and the danger of the feat was not lessened by a rearing horse attached to a cart which we narrowly shaved at the foot of the hill, and which we had calculated would involve us all in utter wreck and discomfiture. 1
