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The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan · Classic Mystery & Suspense Book Collection

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter one, The Man who Died. I returned from the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: city about three o'clock on that May afternoon, pretty well
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: disgusted with life. I had been three months in the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: old Country and was fed up with it. If anyone
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: had told me a year ago that I would have
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: been feeling like that, I should have laughed at him.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: But there was the fact the weather made me liverish,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the talk of the ordinary englishman made me sick. I
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: couldn't get enough exercise, and the amusements of London seemed
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: as flat as soda water that has been standing in
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the sun. Richard Hannay, I kept telling myself, you have
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: got into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: better climb out. It made me bite my lips to
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: think of the plans I had been building up those
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: last years in Bulawayo. I had got my pile, not
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: one of the big ones ones, but good enough for me,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: and I had figured out all kinds of ways of
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: enjoying myself. My father had brought me out from Scotland
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: at the age of six, and I had never been
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: home since. So England was a sort of Arabian nights
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: to me, and I counted on stopping there for the
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: rest of my days, but from the first I was
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: disappointed with it. In about a week I was tired
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: of seeing sights, and in less than a month I
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: had had enough of restaurants and theaters and race meetings.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I had no real pal to go about with, which
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: probably explains things. Plenty of people invited me to their houses,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: but they didn't seem much interested in me. They would
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: ask me a question or two about South Africa and
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: then get on to their own affairs. A lot of
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: imperialist ladies asked me to Tea to meet schoolmasters from
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: New Zealand and editors from Vancouver, and that was the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: dismallest business of all. Here was I, thirty seven years old,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: sound in wind and limb, with enough money to have
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: a good time, yawning my head off all day. I
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: had just about settled to clear out and get back
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: to the Veldt, for I was the best bored man
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: in the United Kingdom. That afternoon I had been worrying
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: my brokers about investments to give my mind something to
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: work on, and on my way home I turned into
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: my club, rather a pot house which took in colonial members.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I had a long drink and read the evening papers.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: They were full of the row in the Near East,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: and there was an article about Carolides, the Greek premiere.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I rather fancied the chap. From all accounts, he seemed
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: the one big man in the show, and he played
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: a straight game, too, which was more than could be
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: said for most of them. I gathered that they hate
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: him pretty blackly in Berlin and Vienna, but that we
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: were going to stick by him, and one paper said
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: that he was the only barrier between Europe pen armageddon.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I remember wondering if I could get a job in
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: those parts. It struck me that Albania was the sort
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: of place that might keep a man from yawning. About
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: six o'clock I went home, dressed, dined at the Cafe
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Royal and turned into a music hall. It was a
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: silly show, all capering women and monkey faced men, and
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I did not stay long. The night was fine and clear.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: As I walked back to the flat I had hired
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: near Portland Place, the crowd surged past me on the pavements,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: busy and chattering, and I envied the people for having
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: something to do. These shop girls and clerks and dandies
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and policemen had some interest in life that kept them going.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I gave half a crown to a beggar because I
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: saw him yawn. He was a fellow sufferer at Oxford Circus.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I looked up into the spring sky and I made
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: a vow. I would give the old country another day
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to fit me into something. If nothing happened, I would
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: take the next boat for the Cape. My flat was
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: on the first floor in a new block behind Langham Place.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: There was a common staircase with a porter and a
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: lift man at the entrance, but there was no restaurant
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: or anything of that sort, and each flat was quite
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: shut off from the others. I hate servants on the premises,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: so I had a fellow to look after me, who
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: came in by the day. He arrived before eight o'clock
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: every morning and used to depart at seven, for I
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: never dined at home. I was just fitting my key
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: into the door when I noticed a man at my elbow.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I had not seen him approach, and the sudden appearance
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: made me start. He was a slim man with a
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: short brown beard and small, gimlety blue eyes. I recognized
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: him as the occupant of the flat on the top
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: floor with whom I had passed the time of day
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: on the stairs. Can I speak to you? He said?
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: May I come in for a minute. He was steadying
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: his voice with an effort, and his hand was pouring
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: my arm. I got my door open and motioned him in.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: No sooner was he over the threshold than he made
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: a dash for my back room, where I used to
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: smoke and write my letters, than he bolted back. Is
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the door locked, he asked feverishly, and he fastened the
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: chain with his own hand. I'm very sorry, he said, humbly.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: It's a mighty liberty. But you look the kind of
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: man who would understand. I've had you in my mind
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: all this week when things got troublesome. Say will you
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: do me a good turn? I'll listen to you, I said,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: that's all I'll promise. I was getting worried by the
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: antics of this nervous little chap. There was a tray
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: of drinks on a table beside him, from which he
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: filled himself a stiff whiskey and soda. He drank it
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: off in three gulps and cracked the glass as he
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: set it down. Pardon, he said, I'm a bit rattled
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: to night. You see, I happened at this moment to
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: be dead. I sat down in an arm chair and
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: lit my pipe. What does it feel like? I asked.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I was pretty certain that I had to deal with
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: a madman. A smile flickered over his drawn face. I'm
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: not mad yet, say sir. I've been watching you, and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: I reckon you're a cool customer. I reckon too, You're
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: an honest man and not afraid of playing a bold hand.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I'm going to confide in you. I need help worse
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: than any man ever needed it, and I want to
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: know if I can count you in. Get on with
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: your yarn, I said, and then I'll tell you. He
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: seemed to brace himself for a great effort, and then
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: started on the queerest rigmarole. I didn't get hold of
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: it at first, and I had to stop and ask
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: him questions. But here is the gest of it. He
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: was an American from Kentucky, and after college, being pretty
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: well off, he had started out to see the world.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: He wrote a bit and acted as war correspondent for
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: a Chicago paper, and spent a year or two in
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: southeastern Europe. I gathered that he was a fine linguist
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: and had got to know pretty well the society in
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: those parts. He spoke familiarly of many names that I
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: remembered to have seen in the newspapers. He had played
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: about with politics, he told me, for the interest of them,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: and then because he couldn't help himself. I read him
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: as a sharp, restless fellow who always wanted to get
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: down to the roots of things. He got a little
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: further down than he wanted. I've given you what he
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: told me as well as I could make it out away.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Behind all the governments and the armies, there was a big,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: subterranean movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people. He
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: had come on it by accident. It fascinated him. He
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: went further and then got caught. I gathered that most
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: of the people in it were the sort of educated
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: anarchists that make revolutions, but that beside them were financiers
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: who were playing for money. A clever man can make
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: big profits on a falling market, and it suited the
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: book of both classes to set Europe by the years.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: He told me some queer thing that explained a lot
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: that had puzzled me, Things that had happened in the
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Balkan War, How one state suddenly came out on top,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: why alliances were made and broken, why certain men disappeared,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: and where the sinews of war came from. The aim
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: of the whole conspiracy was to get Russia and Germany
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: at loggerheads. When I asked why, he said that the
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: anarchist lot thought it would give them their chance. Everything
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: would be in the melting pot, and they looked to
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: see a new world emerge. The capitalists would rake in
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the shekels and make fortunes by buying up wreckage. Capital
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: he said, had no conscience and no fatherland. Besides, the
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Jew was behind it, and the Jew hated Russia worse
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: than hell. Do you wonder, he cried, for three hundred
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: years they had been persecuted, and this is the return
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: match for the pograms. The Jew is everywhere, but you
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: have to go far down the back stairs to find him.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Take any big Teutonic business concern, if you have dealings
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: with it, the first man you meet is Prince von
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Unzu something, an elegant young man who talks eaton and
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: harrow English, but he cuts no ice. If your business
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: is big, you get behind him and find a Prognathus Westphalian,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: with a retreating brow and the manners of a hog.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: He is the German businessman that gives your English papers
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the shakes. But if you're on the biggest kind of
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: job and are bound to get to the real boss,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: ten to one, you are brought up against a little
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: white faced Jew in a bath chair with an eye
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: like a rattlesnake. Yes, sir, he is the man who
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: is ruling the world just now, and he has his
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: knife in the Empire of the Czar because his aunt
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: was outraged and his father flogged in some one horse
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: location on the Vulgar I couldn't help saying that his
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: jew anarchists seem to have got left behind a little
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: yes and no, he said. They won up to a point,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: but they struck a bigger thing, the money, a thing
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: that couldn't be bought, the old elemental fighting instincts of man.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: If you're going to be killed, you invent some kind
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: of flag and country to fight for, and if you survive,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: you get to love the thing. These foolish devils of
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: soldiers have found something they care for and that has
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: upset the pretty plan laid in Berlin and Vienna. But
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: my friends haven't played their last card by a long sight.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: They've got the ace up their sleeves, and unless I
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: can keep alive for a month, they're going to play
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: it and win. But I thought you were dead. I
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: put in Moore's Janue vitae. He smiled. I recognized the quotation.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: It was about all the Latin. I knew. I am
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: coming to that, and I've got to put you wise
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: about a lot of things. First, if you read your newspaper,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I guess you know the name of Constantine Carolides. I
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: sat up for that, for I had been reading about
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: him that very afternoon. He is the man that has
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: wrecked all their games. He is the one big brain
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: in the whole show. And he happens also to be
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: an honest man. Wherefore he has been marked down these
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: twelve months past. I've found that out. Not that it
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: was difficult for any fool could guess, as much that
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: I found out the way they were going to get him,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: and that knowledge was deadly. That's why I've had to decease.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: He had another drink, and I mixed it for him myself,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: for I was getting interested in the beggar They can't
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: get him in his own land, for he has a
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: bodyguard of apparotes that would skin their grandmothers. But on
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: the fifteenth day of June he is coming to this city.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: The British Foreign Office has taken to having international tea parties,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: and the biggest of them is due on that date. Now,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Karolides is reckoned, the principal guest, and if my friends
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: have their way, he will never return to his admiring countrymen.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: That's simple enough. Anyhow, I said, you can warn him
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: and keep him at home and play their game. He
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: asked sharply. If he does not come, they win, for
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: he's the only man that can straighten out the tangle.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: And if his government is warned, he won't come, for
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: he does not know how big the stakes will be
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: on June fifteenth. What about the British government, I asked.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: They're not going to let their guests be murdered. Tip
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: them the wink and they'll take extra precautions. No good.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: They might stuff your city with plain clothes detectives and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: double the police, and Constantine would still be a doomed man.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: My friends are not playing this game for candy. They
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: want a big occasion for the taking off with the
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: eyes of all Europe on it. He'll be murdered by
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: an Austrian, and there'll be plenty of evidence to show
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the connivance of the big folk in Vienna and Berlin.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: It will all be an infernal lie, of course, but
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the case will look black enough to the world. I'm
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: not talking hot air, my friend. I happen to know
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: every detail of the hellish contrivance, and I can tell
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you it will be the most finished piece of blackguardism
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: since the Borges. But it's not going to come off
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: if there's a certain man who knows the wheels of
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the business alive right here in London on the fifteenth
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: day of June. And that man is going to be
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: your servant, Franklin P. Scudder. I was getting to like
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: the little chap. His jaw had shut like a rat trap,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: and there was a fire of battle in his gimletty eyes.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: If he was spinning me a yarn, he could act
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: up to it. Where did you find out this story,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: I asked. I got the first hint in an inn
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: in the arkh and saying Tyrol. That set me inquiring,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: and I collected my other clues in a first shop
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: in the Galatian quarter of Buddha, in a stranger's club
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: in Vienna, and in a little bookshop off the racknetztra
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: in Leipzig. I completed my evidence ten days ago in Paris.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you the details now, for it's something
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: of a history. When I was quite sure in my
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: own mind, I judged it my business to disappear, and
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I reached this city by a mighty queer circuit. I
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: left Paris a dandified young French American, and I sailed
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: from Hamburg, a jew diamond merchant. In Norway, I was
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: an English student of Ibsen, collecting materials for lectures. But
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: when I left Bergen I was a cinema man with
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: special ski films, and I came here from Leith with
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: a lot of pulpwood propositions in my pocket to put
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: before the London newspapers. Till yesterday, I had thought I
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: had mudded my trail some and was feeling pretty happy.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Then the recollection seemed to upset him, and he gulped
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: down some more whiskey. Then I saw a man standing
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: in the street outside this block. I used to stay
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: close in my room all day and only slip out
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: after dark for an hour or two. I watched him
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: for a bit from my window, and I thought I
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: recognized him. He came in and spoke to the porter.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: When I came back from my walk last night, I
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: found a card in my letter box. It bore the
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: name of the man I want least to meet on
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: God's Earth. I think that the look in my companion's eyes,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: the sheer naked fright on his face, completed my conviction
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: of his honesty. My own voice sharpened a bit as
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: I asked him what he did next. I realized I
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: was bottled up as sure as a pickled herring, and
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: that there was only one way out. I had to die.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: If my pursuers knew I was dead, they would go
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: to sleep again. How did you manage it? I told
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the man that valets me that I was feeling pretty bad,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: and I got myself up to look like death. That
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: wasn't difficult, for I'm no slouch at disguises. Then I
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: got a corpse. You can always get a body in
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: London if you know where to go for it. I
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: fetched it back in a trunk on the top of
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: a four wheeler, and I had to be assisted upstairs
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: to my room. You see, I had to pile up
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: some evidence for the inquest. I went to bed and
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: got my man to mix me a sleeping draft, and
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: then told him to clear out. He wanted to fetch
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: a doctor, but I swore some and said I couldn't
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: abide leeches. When I was left alone, I started in
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: to fake up that corpse. He was my size, and
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I judged had perished from too much alcohol, so I
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: put some spirits handy about the place. The jaw was
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: the weak point in the likeness, so I blew it
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: away with a revolver. There will be somebody tomorrow to
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: swear to having heard a shot, But there are no
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: neighbors on my floor, and I guessed I could risk it.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: So I left the body in bed, dressed up in
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: my pajamas, with a revolver lying on the bedclothes and
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: a considerable mess around. Then I got into a suit
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: of clothes I had kept waiting for emergencies. I didn't
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: dare to shave for fear of leaving tracks, And besides
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: it wasn't any kind of use my trying to get
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: into the streets. I had had you in my mind
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: all day, and there seemed nothing to do but to
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: make an appeal to you. I watched from my window
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: till I saw you come home, and then slip down
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the stair to meet you there. Sir, I guess you
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: know about as much as me of this business. He
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: sat blinking like an owl, fluttering with nerves, and yet
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: desperately determined. By this time, I was pretty well convinced
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: that he was going straight with me. It was the
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: wildest sort of narrative, but I had heard in my
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: time many steep tails which had turned out to be true,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: and I had made a practice of judging the man
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: rather than the story. If he'd wanted to get a
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: location in my flat and then cut my throat, he
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: would have pitched a milder yarn. Hand me your key,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I said, and I'll take a look at the corpse.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Excuse my caution, but I'm bound to verify a bit
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: if I can. He shook his head mournfully. I reckoned,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: you'd ask for that, but I haven't got it. It's
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: on my chain on the jessing table. I had to
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: leave it behind, for I couldn't leave any clues to
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: raise suspicions. The gentry who were after me are burretty
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: bright eyed citizens. You'll have to take me on trust
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: for the night, and tomorrow you'll get proof of the
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: corpse business. Right enough, I thought for an instant or two. Right,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: I'll trust you for the night. I'll lock you into
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: this room and keep the key. Just one word, mister Scudder.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: I believe you're straight, but if so be you or not,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I should warn you that I'm a handy man with
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: a gun. Sure, he said, jumping up with some briskness.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I haven't the privilege of your name, sir, but let
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: me tell you that you're a white man. I'll thank
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: you to lend me a razor. I took him into
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: my bedroom and turned him loose. In half an hour's
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: time a figure came out that I scarcely recognized. Only
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: his gimlety hungry eyes were the same. He was shaved clean,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: his hair was parted in the middle, and he had
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: cut his eyebrows. Furthermore, he carried himself as if he
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: had been drilled, and was the very model, even to
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: the brown complexion of some British officer who had had
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: a long spell in India. He had a monocle, too,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: which he stuck in his eye, and every trace of
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the American had gone out of his speech. My hat,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: mister Scudder, I stammered, Not mister Scudder, he corrected. Captain
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Theophilus Digby of the seventh gurkhas presently home on leave.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: I'll thank you to remember that, sir. I made him
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: a bed in my smoking room and sought my own couch,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: more cheerful than I had been for the past month.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Things did happen occasionally, even in this god forgotten metropolis.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I woke next morning to hear my man Paddock making
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: the juice of a row at the smoking room door.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Paddock was a fellow I had done a good turn
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: to out on the Silaquy, and I had in spanned
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: him as my servant as soon as I got to England.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: He had about as much gift of the gab as
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: a hippopotamus. I was not a great hand at Valatin,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: but I knew I could count on his loyalty. Stop
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: that row, Paddock, I said, there's a friend of mine,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Captainna Captainner, I couldn't remember his name, dossing down in there,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: get breakfast for two and then come and speak to me.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I told Paddock a fine story about how my friend
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: was a great swell with his nerves pretty bad from
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: over work, who wanted absolute rest and stillness. Nobody had
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: got to know he was there, or he would be
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: besieged by communications from the India Office and the Prime Minister,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: and his cure would be ruined. I'm bound to say.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Scudder played up splendidly when he came to breakfast. He
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: fixed Paddock with his eye glass, just like a British officer,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: and asked him about the Boer War, and slung out
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: at me a lot of stuff about imaginary pals. Paddock
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: couldn't learn to call me sir, but he sirred Scudder
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: as if his life depended on it. I left him
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: with the newspaper and a box of cigars and went
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: down to the city till luncheon. When I got back,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: the porter had a weighty face, nasty business here this morning,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: sir genting number fifteen. Bin shot hisself. They just took
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: him off to the mortuary. The police are up there, nere.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: I sent it to Number fifteen and found a couple
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: of bobbies and an inspector busy making an examination. I
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: asked a few idiotic questions, and they soon kicked me out.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Then I found the man that had valleted Scudder and
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: pumped him, and I could see he suspected nothing. He
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: was a whining fellow with a churchyard face, and half
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: a crown went far to console him. I attended the
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: inquest next day. A partner of some publishing firm gave
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: evidence that the deceased had brought him popwood propositions and
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: had been, he believed, an agent of an American business.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: The jury found it a case of suicide while of
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: unsound mind, and the few effects were handed over to
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the American consul to deal with. I gave Scudder a
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: full account of the affair, and it interested him greatly.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: He said he wished he could have attended the inquest,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: for he reckoned it would be about as spicy as
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: to read one's own obituary. Notice the first two days
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: he stayed with me in that back room, he was
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: very peaceful. He read and smoked a bit, and made
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: a heap of jottings in a note book. And every
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: night we had a game of chess, at which he
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: beat me hollow. I think he was nursing his nerves
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: back to health. For he had had a pretty trying time.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: But on the third day I could see he was
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: beginning to get restless. He fixed up a list of
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the days till June fifteenth, and ticked each off with
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: a red pencil, making remarks in shorthand against them. I
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: would find him sunk in a brown study with his
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: sharp eyes abstracted, And after these spells of meditation he
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: was apt to be very despondent. Then I could see
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: that he began to get edgy again. He listened for
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: little noises and was always asking me if Paddock could
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: be trusted. Once or twice he got very peevish and
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: apologized for it. I didn't blame him. I made every allowance,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: for he had taken on a fairly stiff job. It
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: was not the safety of his own skin that troubled him,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: but the success of the scheme he had planned. That
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: little man was clean, pluck all through, without a soft
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: spot in him. One night he was very solemn, say hannay.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: He said, I judged I should let you a bit
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: deeper into this business. I should hate to go out
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: without leaving somebody else to put up a fight. And
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: he began to tell me in detail what I had
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: only heard from him vaguely. I did not give him
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: very close attention. The fact is I was more interested
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: in his own adventures than in his high politics. I
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: reckoned that Caralidis and his affairs were not my business,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: leaving all that to him. So a lot that he
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: said slipped clean out of my memory. I remember that
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: he was very clear that danger to Karlidi's would not
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: begin till he had got to London, and would come
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: from the various highest quarters where there would be no
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: thought of suspicion. He mentioned the name of a woman,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Julia Checcheni, as having something to do with the danger.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: She would be the decoy I gathered to get Karlides
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: out of the care of his guards. He talked to
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: about a black stone and a man that lisped in
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: his eye beach, and he described very particularly somebody that
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: he never referred to without a shudder, an old man
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: with a young voice who could hood his eyes like
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: a hawk. He spoke a good deal about death too.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: He was mortally anxious about winning through with his job,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: but he didn't care a rush for his life. I reckon,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: it's like going to sleep when you are pretty well
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: tired out and waking to find a summer day with
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the scent of hay coming in at the window. I
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: used to thank God for such mourning way back in
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the Bluegrass country, and I guess I'll thank him when
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I woke up on the other side of Jordan next day.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: He was much more cheerful and read the Life of
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Stonewall Jackson most of the time. I went out to
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: dinner with a mining engineer I had got to see
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: on business, and came back at about half past ten
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: in time for our game of check Yes. Before turning in,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: I had a cigar in my mouth. I remember as
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: I pushed open the smoking room door the lights were
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: not lit, which struck me as odd. I wonder if
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Scudder had turned in already. I snapped the switch and
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: there was nobody there. Then I saw something in the
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: far corner which made me drop my cigar and fall
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: into a cold sweat. My guest was lying sprawled on
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: his back. There was a long knife through his heart
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: which skewered him to the floor. End of chapter one,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Chapter two, The Milkman sets out on his travels. I
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: sat down in an armchair and felt very sick that
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: lasted for maybe five minutes, and was succeeded by a
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: fit of the horrors. The poor, staring white face on
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: the floor was more than I could bear, and I
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: managed to get a tablecloth and cover it. Then I
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: staggered to a cupboard, found the brandy, and swallowed several mouthfuls.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: I had seen men die violently before, indeed I had
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: killed a few myself in the Matabele War, but this
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: cold blooded indoor business was different. Still, I had managed
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: to pull myself together. I looked at my watch and
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: saw that it was half past ten. An idea seized me,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and I went over the flat with a small tooth comb.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: There was nobody there, nor any trace of anybody, but
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I shuddered and bolted all the windows and put the
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: chain on the door. By this time my wits were
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: coming back to me and I could think again. It
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: took me about an hour to figure the thing out,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and I did not hurry, for unless the murderer came back,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: I had until about six o'clock in the morning for
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: my cogitations. I was in the soup. That was pretty clear.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Any shadow of a doubt I might have had about
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: the truth of Scudder's tale was now gone. The proof
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: of it was lying under the tablecloth. The men that
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: knew that he knew what he knew had found him
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: and had taken the best way to make certain of
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: his silence. Yes, but he had been in my room
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: four days, and his enemies must have reckoned that he
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: had confided in me. So I would be the next
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to go. It might be that very night, or next day,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: or the day after, but my number was up all right.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Then suddenly I thought of another probability. Supposing I went
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: out now and called in the police, or went to
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: bed and let Paddock find the body and called them
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: in the morning. What kind of a story was I
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: to tell about Scudder? I had lied to Paddock about him,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: and the whole thing looked desperately fishy. If I made
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: a clean breast of it and told the police everything
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: he had told me, they would simply laugh at me.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: The odds were a thousand to one that I would
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: be charged with the murder, and the circumstantial evidence was
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: strong enough to hang me. Few people knew me in England.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I had no real pow who could come forward and
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: sware to my character. Perhaps that was what these secret
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: enemies were playing for they were clever enough for anything,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: and an English prison was as good a way of
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: getting rid of me until after June fifteenth as a
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: knife in my chest. Besides, if I told the whole story,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: and by any miracle was believed, I would be playing
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: their game, Carolides would stay at home, which was what
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: they wanted. Somehow or other, the sight of Scudder's dead
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: face had made me a passionate believer in his scheme.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: He was gone, but he had taken me into his confidence,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: and I was pretty well bound to carry on his work.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: You may think this ridiculous for a man in danger
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: of his life, but that was the way I looked
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: at it. I am an ordinary sort of fellow, not
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: braver than other people, but I hate to see a
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: good man downed, and that long knife would not be
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: the end of Scudder if I could play the game
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: in his place. It took me an hour or two
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: to think this out, and by that time I had
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: come to a decision. I must vanish somehow and keep
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: vanished until the end of the second week of June.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: Then I must somehow find a way to get in
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: touch with the governor people and tell them what Scudder
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: had told me. I wished to heaven he had told
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: me more, and that I had listened more carefully to
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: the little he had told me. I knew nothing but
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: the barest facts. There was a big risk that even
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: if I weathered the other dangers, I would not be
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: believed in the end. I must take my chance of
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: that and hope that something might happen which would confirm
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: my tale in the eyes of the government. My first
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: job was to keep going for the next three weeks.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: It was now the twenty fourth of May, and that
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: meant twenty days of hiding before I could venture to
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: approach the powers that be. I reckoned that two sets
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: of people would be looking for me, Scudder's enemies to
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: put me out of existence, and the police, who would
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: want me for Scudder's murder. It was going to be
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: a giddy hunt, and it was queer how the prospect
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: comforted me. I had been slacked so long that almost
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: any chance of activity was welcome. When I had to
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: sit alone with that corpse and wait on fortune, I
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: was no better than a crushed worm. But if my
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: next safety was to hang on my own wits, I
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: was prepared to be cheerful about it. My next thought
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: was where the Scudder had any papers about him To
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: give me a better clue to the business, I drew
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: back the tablecloth and searched his pockets, for I had
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: no longer any shrinking from the body. The face was
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: wonderfully calm for a man who had been struck down
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: in a moment. There was nothing in the breast pocket,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: and only a few loose coins and a cigar holder
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: in the waistcoat. The trousers held a little penknife and
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: some silver, and the side pocket of his jacket contained
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: an old crocodile skin cigar case. There was no sign
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: of the little black book in which I had seen
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: him making notes that had no doubt been taken by
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: his murderer. But as I looked up from my task,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: I saw that some drawers had been pulled out in
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: the writing table. Scudder would never have left them in
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: that state, for he was the tidiest of mortals. Someone
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: must have been searching for something, perhaps for the pocket book.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: I went round the flat and found that everything had
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: been ransacked, the insides of books, draws, cupboards, boxes, even
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: the pockets of clothes in my wardrobe, and the sideboard
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: in the dining room. There was no trace of the book.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Most likely the enemy had found it, but they had
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: not found it on Scudder's body. Then I got out
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: an atlas and looked at a big map of the
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: British Isles. My notion was to get off to some
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: wild district where my veltcraft would be of some use
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: to me, for I would be like a trapped rat
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: in a city. I considered that Scotland would be best,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: for my people were Scotch and I could pass anywhere
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: as an ordinary Scotsman. I had half an idea at
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: first to be a German tourist, for my father had
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: had German partners, and I had been brought up to
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: speak the tongue pretty fluently, not to mention having put
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: in three years prospecting for copper in German de Maerland.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: But I calculated that it would be less conspicuous to
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: be a scot unless in a line with what the
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: police might know of my past. I fixed on Galloway
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: as the best place to go. It was the nearest
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: wild place of Scotland so far as I could figure
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: it out, and from the look of the map was
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: not over thick with population. A search in Bradshaw informed
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: me that a train left Saint Pancras at sevent ten,
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: which would land me at a Galloway station in the
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: late afternoon. That was well enough, but a more important
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: matter was how I was to make my way to
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: Saint Pancras, for I was pretty certain that Scudder's friends
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: would be watching outside. This puzzled me for a bit.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Then I had an inspiration, on which I went to
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: bed and slept for two troubled hours. I got up
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: at four and opened my bedroom shutters. The faint light
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: of a fine summer morning was flooding the skies, and
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: the sparrows had begun to chatter. I had a great
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: revulsion of feeling and felt a god forgiven fool. My
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: inclination was to let things slide and trust to the
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: British Police taking a reasonable view of my case. But
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: as I viewed the situation, I could find no arguments
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: to bring against my decision of the previous night. So
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: with a wry mouth, I resolved to go on with
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: my plan. I was not feeling any any particular funk,
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: only disinclined to go looking for trouble. If you understand me,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: I hunted out a well used tweed suit, a pair
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: of strong nailed boots, and a flannel shirt with a collar.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Into my pockets. I stuffed a spare shirt, a cloth cap,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: some handkerchiefs, and a toothbrush. I had drawn a good
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: psalm in gold from the bank two days before in
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: case Scudder should want money, and I took fifty pounds
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: of it in sovereigns in a belt which I had
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: brought back from Rhodesha. That was about all I wanted.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: Then I had a bath and cut my mustache, which
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: was long and drooping into a short, stubby fringe. Now
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: came the next step. Paddock used to arrive punctually at
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: seven thirty and let himself in with the latch key.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: But at about twenty minutes to seven, as I knew
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: from bitter experience, the milkman turned up with a great
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: clatter of cans and deposited my share outside my door.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: I had seen that milkman sometimes when I had got
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: out for an early ride. He was a young man
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: about my own height, with a scrubby mustache, dressed in
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: a white overall. On him, I staked all my chances.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: I went into the dark and smoking room, where the
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: rays of morning light were beginning to creep through the shutters.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: There I breakfasted off a whiskey and soda, and some
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: biscuits from the cupboard. By this time it was getting
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: on to six o'clock. I put a pipe in my
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: pocket and filled my pouch from the tobacco jar on
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: the table by the fireplace. As I poked into the tobacco,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: my fingers touched something hard, and I drew out scudders,
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: little black pocket book that seemed to me a good omen.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: I lifted the cloth from the body and was amazed
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: at the peace and dignity of the dead face. Goodbye,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: old Chap, I said, I am going to do my
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: best for you. Wish me well wherever you are. Then
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: I hung about in the hall waiting for the milkmen.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: That was the worst part of the business, for I
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: was fairly choking to get out of doors. Six thirty passed,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: then six forty, but still he did not come. The
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: fool had chosen this day, of all days, to be late.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: At one minute after quarter to seven, I heard the
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: rattle of the cans outside. I opened the front door,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: and there was my man singling out my cans from
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: a bunch he carried, and whistling through his teeth. He
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: jumped a bit at the sight of me. Come in
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: here for a moment, I said, I want a word
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: with you, and I led him into the dining room.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: I reckon, you're a bit of a sportsman, I said,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: and I want you to do me a service. Lend
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: me your cap and overall for ten minutes, and here's
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: a sovereign for you. His eyes opened at the sight
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: of the gold, and he grinned broadly. What's the game,
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: he asked, A bet, I said, I haven't time to explain,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: but to win it, I've got to be a milkman
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: for the next ten minutes. All you've got to do
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: is to stay here till I come back. You'll be
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: a bit late, but nobody will complain, and you'll have
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: that quid for yourself. Right oh, he said cheerily. I
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: ain't the man to spoil a bit of sport. Here's
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: the rig, guv'nor. I stuck on his flat blue cap
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: and his white overall, picked up the cans, banged my
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: door and went whistling downstairs. The porter at the foot
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: told me to shut my jaw which sounded as if
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: my make up was adequate. At first I thought there
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: was nobody in the street. Then I caught sight of
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: a policeman a hundred yards down, and a loafer shuffling
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: past on the other side. Some impulse made me raise
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: my eyes to the house opposite, and there, at a
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: first floor window was a face. As the loafer passed,
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: he looked up, and I fancied a signal was exchanged.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: I crossed the street, whistling gaily and imitating the jaunty
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: swing of the milkman. Then I took the first side
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: street and turned up a left hand turning which led
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: past a bit of vacant ground. There was no one
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: in the little street, so I dropped the milk cans
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: inside the hoarding and sent the hat and cover all
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: after them. I had only just put on my cloth
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: cap when a postman came round the corner. I gave
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: him a good morning, and he answered me unsuspiciously. At
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: the moment the clock of a neighboring church struck the
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: hour of seven, there was not a second despair. As
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: soon as I got to Euston Road, I took to
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: my heels and ran the clock at Euston station showed
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: five minutes past the hour. At Saint Pancras, I had
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: no time to take a ticket, let alone that I
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: had not settled upon my destination. A porter told me
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: the platform, and as I entered it, I saw the
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: train already in motion. Two station officials blocked the way,
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: but I dodged them and clambered into the last carriage.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: Three minutes later, as we were roaring through the Northern Tunnels,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: an irate guard interviewed me. He wrote out for me
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: a ticket to Newton's Steward, a name which had suddenly
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: came back to my memory, and he conducted me from
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: the first class compartment where I had ensconced myself to
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: a third class smoker occupied by a sailor and a
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: stout woman with a child. He went off grumbling, and
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: as I mopped my brow, I observed to my companions
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: in my broadest scots that it was a sore job
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: catching trains I had already entered upon my part. The
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: impudence of that guard, said the lady bitterly. He was
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: complaining of this weird nohena ticket and her no furer
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: than August twelvemonth, and he was objecting to this gentleman's spitten.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: The sailor morosely agreed, and I started my new life
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: in an atmosphere of protest against authority. I reminded myself
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: that a week ago I had been finding the world
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: dull end of chapter two, Chapter three, The Adventure of
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: the Literary Innkeeper. I had a solemn time traveling north
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: that day. It was fine may weather, with the hawthorn
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: flowering on every edge, and I asked myself why, when
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: I was still a free man, I had stayed on
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: in London and not got the good of this heavenly country.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: I didn't dare face the restaurant car, but I got
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: a luncheon basket at Leeds and shared it with the
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: fat woman. Also I got the morning's papers, with news
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: about starters for the derby and the beginning of the
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: cricket season, and some paragraphs about how Balkan affairs were
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: settling down and a British squadron was going to Keel.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: When I had done with them, I got out Scudder's
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: little black pocket book and studied it. It was pretty
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: well filled with jottings, chiefly figures, though now and then
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: a name was printed in. For example, I found the
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: word hoff Guard, Loonville, and avocado pretty often, and especially
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: the word pavia. Now I was certain that Scudder never
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: did anything without a reason, and I was pretty sure
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: that there was a cipher in all this. That is
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: a subject which has always interested me, and I did
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: a bit of it myself once as intelligence officer at
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: Delagoa Bay during the Boer War. I have a head
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: for things like chess and puzzles, and I used to
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: reckon myself pretty good at finding out ciphers. This one
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: looked like the numerical kind, where sets of figures corresponded
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: to the letters of the alphabet. But any fairly shrewd
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: man can find the clue to that sort after an
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: hour or two's work. And I didn't think Scudder would
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: have been content with anything so easy, so I fastened
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: on the printed words. For you can make a pretty
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: good numerical cipher if you have a keyword which gives
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: you the sequence of the letters. I tried for hours,
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: but none of the words answered. Then I fell asleep
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: and woke at Dumfree, just in time to bundle out
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: and get into the slow Galloway train. There was a
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: man on the platform whose looks I didn't like, but
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: he never glanced at me. And when I caught sight
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: of myself in the mirror of an automatic machine, I
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: didn't wonder. With my brown face, my old tweeds, and
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: my slouch, I was the very muddle of one of
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: the hill farmers who were crowding into the third class carriages.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: I traveled with half a dozen in an atmosphere of
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: shag and clay pipes. They had come from the weekly market,
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: and their mouths were full of prices. I heard accounts
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: of how the lambing had gone up on the Cairn
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: and the Doutch and a half dozen other mysterious waters above.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: Half the man had lunched heavily and were highly flavored
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: with whiskey, But they took no notice of me. We
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: rumbled slowly into a land of little wooded glens, and
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: then to a great wide moorland place, gleaming with lochs
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: and high blue hills showing northwards. About five o'clock the
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: carriage had emptied and I was left alone. As I'd hoped,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: I got out at the next station, a little place
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: whose name I scarcely noted, set right in the heart
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: of a bog It reminded me of one of those
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: forgotten little stations in the carou An old station master
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: was digging in his garden, and with his spade over
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: his shoulder, sauntered to the train, took charge of a parcel,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: and went back to his potatoes. A child of ten
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: received my ticket, and I emerged on a white road
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: that straggled over the brown moor. It was a gorgeous
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: spring evening, with every hill showing as clear as a
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: cut amethyst. The air had the queer, rooty smell of bogs,
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: but it was as fresh as mid ocean, and it
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: had the strangest effect on my spirits. I actually felt
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: light hearted. I might have been a boy out for
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: a spring holiday tramp instead of a man of thirty seven,
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: very much wanted by the police. I felt just as
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: I used to feel when I was starting for a
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: big trek on a frosty morning on the high Velt.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: If you believe me, I swung along that road whistling.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: There was no plan of campaign in my head, only
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: just to go on and on in this blessed, honest
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: smelling hill country. For every mile put me in better
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: humor with myself in a roadside planting. I cut a
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: walking stick of hazel, and presently struck off the highway
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: by a by path which followed the glen of a
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: brawling stream. I reckoned that I was still far ahead
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: of any pursuit, and for that night might please myself.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: It was some hours since I had tasted food, and
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: I was getting very hungry when I came to a
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: herd cottage set in a nook beside a waterfall. A
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: brown faced woman was standing by the door and greeted
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: me with the kindly shyness of moorland places. When I
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: asked for a night's lodging, she said I was welcomed
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: to the bed in the loft, and very soon she
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: set before me a hearty meal of ham and eggs, scones,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: and thick sweet milk. At the darkening her man came
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: in from the hills, a lean giant who in one
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: step covered as much ground as three paces of ordinary mortals.
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: They asked no questions, for they had the perfect breeding
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: of all dwellers in the wilds. But I could see
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: that they set me down as some kind of dealer,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: and I took some trouble to confirm their view. I
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: spoke a lot about cattle, of which my host knew little,
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: and I picked up from him a good deal about
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: the local Galloway markets, which I tucked away in my
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: memory for future use. At ten, I was nodding in
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: my chair, and the bed in the lofts received a
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: weary man who never opened his eyes till five o'clock
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: set the little homestead of going once more. They refused
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: any payment, and by six I had breakfasted and was
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: striding southwards again. My notion was to return to the
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: railway line a station or two further on than the
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: place where I had alighted yesterday, and to double back.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: I reckon that was the safest way, for the police
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: would naturally assume that I was always making further from
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: London in the direction of some western port. I thought
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: I had still a good bit of a start, for,
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: as I reasoned, it would take some hours to fix
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: the blame on me, and several more to identify the
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: fellow who got on board the train. At Saint Pancras,
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: it was the same jolly, clear spring weather, and I
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: simply could not contrive to feel careworn. Indeed, I was
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: in better spirits than I had been for months. Over
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: the long ridge of moorland. I took my road, skirting
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: the side of a high hill which the herd had
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: called cairns. More of fleet. Nestling curlews and plovers were
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: crying everywhere, and the lynks of green pasture by the
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: streams were dotted with young lambs. All the slackness of
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: the past months were slipping from my bones, and I
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: stepped out like a four year old. By and by
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: I came to a swell of moorland which dipped to
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: the vale of a little river, and a mile away
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: in the heather, I saw the smoke of a train.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: The station when I reached it proved to be ideal
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: for my purpose. The moor surged up around it and
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: left room only for the single line, a slender siding,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: a waiting room, an office, the station master's cottage, and
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: a tiny yard of gooseberries and sweet william. There seemed
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: no road to it from anywhere, And to increase the desolation,
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: the waves of a tarn lapped on their gray granite
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: beach half a mile away. I waited in the deep
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: heather till I saw the smoke of an east going
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: train on the horizon. Then I approached the tiny booking
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: office and took a ticket for Dumfries. The only occupants
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: of the carriage were an old shepherd and his dog,
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: a war eyed brute that I mistrusted. The man was asleep,
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: and on the cushions beside him was that morning's Scotsman.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: Eagerly I seized on it, for I fancied it would
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: tell me something. There were two columns about the Portland
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: Place murder, as it was called. My man Paddock had
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: given the alarm and had the milkmen arrested poor devil.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: It looked as if the latter had earned his sovereign hardly.
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: But for me he had been cheap at the price,
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: for he seemed to have occupied the police the better
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: part of a day. In the stop Press news I
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: found a further installment of the story. The Milkman had
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: been released. I read and the true criminal, about whose
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: identity the police were reticent, was believed to have got
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: away from London by one of the Northern lines. There
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: was a short note about me as the owner of
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: the flat. I guess the police had stuck in that
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: as a clumsy contrivance to persuade me that I was unsuspected.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: There was nothing else in the paper, nothing about foreign politics,
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: or Carolides, or the things that had interested Scudder. I
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: laid it down and found that we were approaching the
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: station at which I had got out yesterday. The potato
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: digging station master had been gingered up into some activity,
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: for the west going train was waiting to let us pass,
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: and from it had descended three men who were asking
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: him questions. I supposed that they were the local police,
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: who had been stirred up by Scotland Yard and had
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: traced me as far as this one horse siding. Sitting
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: well back in the shadow, I watched them carefully. One
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: of them had a book and took down notes. The
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: old potato digger seemed to have turned peevish, but the
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: child who had collected my ticket was talking volubly. All
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: the party looked across the moor, where the white road departed.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: I hoped they were going to take up my tracks there.
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: As we moved away from that station, my companion woke up.
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: He fixed me with a wondering glance, kicked his dog vigorously,
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: and inquired where he was. Clearly he was very drunk.
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: That's what comes of being a tea taller he observed
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: in bitter regret. I expressed my surprise that in him
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: I should have met a blue ribbon stalboart Ay. But
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: I'm a strong teetotaler, he said pugnaciously. I took the
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: pledge last, Martimus and I having touched a draw up
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: a whiskey city, not even at hogmony. Though I was
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: sore tempted. He swung his heels up on the seat
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: and borrowed a frowsy head into the cushions. A las
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: I get, he moaned, a head hotter than hell fire
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: and twine, looking different ways for the Sabbath. What did it,
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: I asked, I drink the car Brandy. Being a teetotaler,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: I kept off the whiskey, but I was nipping a
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: day yesterday in a less Brandy, and I do I'll
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: know be well for a fortnicked, his voice died away
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: into a stutter, and sleep once more laid its heavy
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: hand on him. My plan had been to get out
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: of some station down the line, but the train suddenly
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: gave me a better chance, for it came to a
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: standstill at the end of a culvert which spanned a
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: brawling porter colored river. I looked out and saw that
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: every carriage window was closed, and no human figure appeared
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: on the landscape. So I opened the door and dropped
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: quickly into the tangle of hazels which edged the line.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: It would have been all right, but for that infernal dog,
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: under the impression that I was decamping with its master's belongings,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: it started to bark and all but got me by
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: the trousers. This woke up the herd, who stood bawling
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: at the carriage door, in the belief that I had
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: committed suicide. I crawled through the thicket, reached the edge
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: of the stream, and in cover of the bushes, put
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: a hundred yards or so behind me. Then from my shelter,
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: I peered back and saw that the guard and several
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: passengers gathered round the open carriage door and stared in
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: my direction. I could not have made a more public
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: departure if I had left with a bugler and a
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: brass band. Happily, the drunken herd provided a diversion. He
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: and his dog, which was attached by a rope to
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: his waist, suddenly cascaded out of the carriage, landed on
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: their heads on the track, and rolled some way down
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: the bank. Towards the water. In the rescue which followed
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: the dog bit somebody, for I could hear the sound
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: of hard swearing. Presently they had forgotten me, And when
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: after a quarter of a mile's crawl I ventured to
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: look back, the train had started again and was vanishing
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: in the cutting. I was in a wide semicircle of moorland,
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: with the Brown River as radius and the high hills
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: forming the northern circumference. There was not a sign or
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: sound of a human being, only the plashing water and
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: the the odd determinable crying of curluse. Yet oddly enough,
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: for the first time, I felt the terror of the
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: hunted on me. It was not the police that I
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: thought of, but the other folk, who knew that I
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: knew Scudder's secret and dared not let me live. I
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: was certain that they would pursue me with a keenness
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: and vigilance unknown to the British law, and that once
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: their grip closed on me, I should find no mercy.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: I looked back and there was nothing in the landscape.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: The sun glinted on the metals of the line and
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: the wet stones in the stream, and you could not
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: have found a more peaceful sight in the world. Nevertheless,
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: I started to run, crouching low in the runnels of
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: the bog. I ran till the sweat blinded my eyes.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: The mood did not leave me till I had reached
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: the rim of mountain and flung myself panting on a
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: ridge high above the young waters of the Brown River.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: From my vantage ground, I could scan the whole moor,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: right away to the railway line and to the south
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: of it, where the green fields took the place of heather.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: I have eyes like a hawk, but I could see
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: nothing moving in the whole countryside. Then I looked east
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: beyond the ridge and saw a new kind of landscape,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: shallow green valleys with plentiful fir plantations, and the faint
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: lines of dust which spoke of high roads. Last of all,
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: I looked into the blue May sky, and there I
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: saw that which set my pulses racing low down in
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: the south, a monoplane was climbing into the heavens. I
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: was certain, as if I had been told that that
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: aeroplane was looking for me, and that it did not
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: belong to the police. For an hour or who, I
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: watched it from a pit of heather it flew low
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: along the hilltops, and then in narrow circles back over
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: the valley up which I had come. Then it seemed
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: to change its mind, rose to a great height, and
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: flew away back to the south. I did not like
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: this espionage from the air, and I began to think
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: less well of the countryside I had chosen for a refuge.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: These heather hills were no sort of cover if my
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: enemies were in the sky, and I must find a
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: different kind of sanctuary. I looked with more satisfaction to
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: the green country beyond the ridge, for there I should
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: find woods and stone houses. About six in the evening
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: I came out of the moorland to a white ribbon
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: of road which wound up the narrow vale of a
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: lowland stream. As I followed it, fields gave place to bent.
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: The glen became a plateau, and presently i'd reached a
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: and of pass, where a solitary house smoked in the twilight.
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: The road swung over a bridge, and leaning on the
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: parapet was a man. He was smoking a long clay
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: pipe and studying the water with spectacled eyes. In his
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: left hand was a small book with a finger marking
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: the place slowly, he repeated, as when a griffin through
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: the wilderness with winged step or hill and mauy Dale
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: pursues the ariy masspion. He jumped round as my step
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: rung on the keystone, and I saw a pleasant, sunburnt,
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: boyish face. Good evening to you, he said, gravely. It's
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: a fine night for the road. The smell of wood
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: smoke and of some savory roast floated to me from
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: the house. Is that place an inn? I asked? At
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: your service, he said politely, I am the landlord, sir,
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: and I hope you will stay the night, for to
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: tell you the truth, I have had no company for
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: a week. I pulled myself up on the parapet of
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: the bridge and filled my pipe. I began to detect
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: an ally. You're young to be an innkeeper, I said.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: My father died a year ago and left me the business.
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: I lived there with my grandmother. It's a slow job
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: for a young man, and it wasn't my choice of
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: a profession. Which was he actually blushed. I want to
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: write books, he said, And what better chance could you ask?
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: I cried, man, I've often thought that an innkeeper would
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: make the best story teller in the world. Not now,
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: he said eagerly. Maybe in the old days when you
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: had pilgrims and ballad makers and highwaymen and mail coaches
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: on the road, but not now. Nothing here but motor
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: cars full of fat women who stopped for lunch, or
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: a fisherman or two in the spring, and the shooting
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: tenant in August. There's not much material to be got
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: out of that. I want to see life, to travel
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: the world and write things like Kipling and Conrad. The
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: most I've done yet is to get some verses printed
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: in Chambers journal. I looked at the inn, standing golden
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: in the sunset against the wine red hills. I've knocked
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: a bit about the world, and I wouldn't despise such
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: a hermitage. Do you think that adventure is found only
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: in the tropics or among gentry in red shirts? Maybe
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: you're rubbing shoulders with it at this moment, that's what
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: Kipling says. He said, his eyes lightning, and he quoted
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: some verse about romance being up the nine fifteen. Here's
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: a true tale for you. Then I cried, and are
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: months hence you can make a novel out of it. Sitting
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: on the bridge in the soft may gloaming. I pitched
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: him a lovely yarn. It was true in essentials too,
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: though I altered the minor details. I made out that
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: I was a mining magnate from Kimberly who had had
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: a lot of trouble with I d B illicit diamond buying,
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: and had shown up a gang. They had pursued me
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: across the ocean, and had killed my best friend and
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: were now on my tracks. I told the story, well,
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: though I say it, who shouldn't. I pictured a flight
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: across the Kalahari to German Africa, the crackling, parching days,
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: the wonderful blue velvet nights. I described an attack on
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: my life on the voyage home, and I made a
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: really horrid affair of the Portland place murder. You're looking
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: for adventure, I cried, Well, you've found it here. The
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: devils are after me, and the police are after them.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: It's a race that I mean to win. Bye, thank God,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: he whispered, drawing his breath in sharply. It is all
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: pure Rider Haggard and Conan Doyle. You believe me, I said, gratefully,
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: Of course I do, And he held out his hand.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: I believe everything out of the common. The only thing
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: to distrust is the normal. He was very young, but
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: he was the man for my money. I think they're
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: off my track for the moment, but I must lie
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: close for a couple of days. Can you take me in?
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: He caught my elbow in his eagerness and drew me
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: toward the house. You can lie as snug here as
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: if you were in a moss hole. I'll see that
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: nobody blabs either, and you'll give me some more material
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: about your adventures. As I entered the inn porch, I
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: heard from far off the beat of an engine. There,
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: silhouetted against the dusky west, was my friend, the monoplane.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: He gave me a room at the back of the
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: house with a fine outlook over the plateau, and made
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: me free of his own study, which was stacked with
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: cheap editions of his favorite authors. I never saw the grandmother,
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: so I guessed she was bed ridden. An old woman
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: named Margaret brought me my meals, and the innkeeper was
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: around me at all hours. I wanted some time to myself,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: so I invented a job for him. He had a
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: motor bicycle, and I set him off next morning for
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: the daily paper, which usually arrived with the post in
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: the late afternoon. I told him to keep his eyes
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: skinned and to make note of any strange figures he saw,
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: keeping a special sharp lookout for motors and aeroplanes. Then
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: I sat down in real earnest to Scudder's notebook. He
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: came back at midday with the Scotsman. There was nothing
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: in it except some further evidence of Paddock and the Milkman,
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: and a repetition of yesterday's statement that the murderer had
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: gone north. But there was a long article reprinted from
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: the Times about Kralidis and the state of affairs in
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: the Balkans, though there was no mention of any visit
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: to England. I got rid of the innkeeper for the afternoon,
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: for I was getting very warm in my search for
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: the cipher. As I told you, it was a numerical cipher,
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: and by an elaborate system of experiments, I had pretty
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: well discovered what were the nulls and stops. The trouble
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: was the key word, and when I thought of the
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: odd million words he might have used, I felt pretty hopeless.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: But about three o'clock I had a sudden inspiration. The
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: name Julia Checknyi flashed across my memory. Scudder had said
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: it was the key to the Karlides business, and it
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: occurred to me to try it on his cipher. It worked.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: The five letters of Julia gave me the position of
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: the vowels. A was J, the tenth letter of the alphabet,
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: and so repeated by X in the cipher, E was
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: U x x I, and so on. Chechenyi gave me
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: the numerals for the principal consonants. I scribbled that scheme
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: on a bit of paper and sat down to read
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: Scudder's pages. In half an hour, I was reading with
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: a whitish face and fingers that drummed on the table.
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: I glanced out of the window and saw a big
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: touring car coming up the glen towards the inn. It
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: drew up at the door, and there was the sound
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: of people alighting. There seemed to be two of them,
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: men in equiscutems and tweed caps. Ten minutes later, the
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: innkeeper slipped into the room, his eyes bright with excitement.
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: There's two chaps below looking for you, he whispered. They're
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: in the dining room having whiskies and sodas. They asked
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: about you and said they'd hoped to meet you here. Oh,
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: and they described you jolly well, down to your boots
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: and shirt. I told them you had been here last
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: night and had gone off on a motor bicycle this morning.
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: And one of the chaps swore like a navvy. I
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: made him tell me what they looked like. One was
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: a dark eyed, thin fellow with bushy eyebrows, and the
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: other was always smiling and lisped in his talk. Neither
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: was any kind of foreigner. On this, my young friend
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: was positive. I took a bit of paper and wrote
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: these words in German, as if they were part of
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: a letter. Blackstone Scudder had got on to this, but
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: he could not act for a fortnight. I doubt if
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: I can do any good now, especially as Krolides is
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: uncertain about his plans. But if mister t advises, I
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: will do the best I I may. When you factured
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: it rather neatly, so that it looked like a loose
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: page of a private letter, take this down and say
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: it was found in my bedroom, and ask them to
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: return it to me if they overtake me. Three minutes
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: later I heard the car begin to move, and peeping
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: from behind the curtain, caught sight of the two figures.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: One was slim, the other was sleek. That was the
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: most I could make of my reconnaissance. The innkeeper appeared
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: in great excitement. Your paper woke them up, he said, gleefully.
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: That dark fellow went as white as death and cursed
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: like blazes, and the fat one whistled and looked ugly.
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: They paid for their drinks with half a sovereign and
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: wouldn't wait for change. Now I'll tell you what I
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: want you to do, I said, Get on your bicycle
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: and go off to Newton Stewart to the Chief Constable.
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: Describe the two men and say you suspect them of
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: having something to do with the London murder. You can
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: invent reasons. The two will come back. No fear not
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: to night, for they'll follow me forty miles along the road.
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: But first thing tomorrow morning, tell the police to be here,
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: bright and early. He set off like a docile child
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: while I worked at Scudder's notes. When he came back,
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: we dined together, and in common decency I had to
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: let him pump me. I gave him a lot of
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: stuff about lion hunts, and the matter billy war, thinking
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: all the while what tame business these were compared with
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: this I was now engaged in. When he went to bed,
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: I sat up and finished scudder. I smoked in a
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: chair till daylight, for I could not sleep. About eight
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: next morning I witnessed the arrival of two constables and
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: a sergeant. They put their car in a coach house
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: under the innkeeper's instructions, and entered the house. Twenty minutes
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: later I saw from my window a second car come
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: across the plateau from the opposite direction. It did not
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: come up to the inn, but stopped two hundred yards
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: off in the shelter of a patch of wood. I
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: noticed that its occupants carefully reversed it before leaving it.
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: A minute or two later I heard their steps on
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: the gravel outside the window. My plan had been to
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: lie hid in my bedroom and see what happened. I
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: had a notion that if I could bring the police
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: and my other more dangerous pursuers together, something might work
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: out of it to my advantage. But now I had
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: a better idea. I scribbled a line of thanks to
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: my host, opened the window, and dropped quietly into a
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: gooseberry bush. Unobserved, I crossed the dike, crawled down to
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: the side of a tributary burn, and won the high road.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: On the far side of the patch of trees, there
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: stood the car. There he spick and span in the
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: morning sunlight, but with the dust on her which told
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: of a long journey. I started her, jumped into the
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: chauffeur's seat, and stole gently out onto the plateau. Almost
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: at once the road dipped so that I lost sight
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: of the inn, but the wind seemed to bring me
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: the sound of angry voices. End of chapter three, Chapter four,
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: The Adventure of the Radical Candidate. You may picture me
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: driving that forty horse power car for all she was worth,
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: over the crisp moor roads on that shining May morning,
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: glancing back at first over my shoulder and looking anxiously
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: to the next turning, then driving with a vague eye,
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: just wide enough for wake to keep on the highway.
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: For I was thinking desperately of what I had found
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: in Scudder's pocket book. The little man had told me
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: a pack of life. All his yarns about the Balkans
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: and the jew anarchists and the Foreign Office conference were
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: eyewash and so was Krolid's, and yet not quite as
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: you shall hear. I'd staked everything on my belief in
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: his story and had been let down. Here was his
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: book telling me a different tale, And instead of being
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: once bitten twice shy, I believed it absolutely why I
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: don't know, it rang desperately true, and the first yarn,
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: if you understand me, had been in a queer way
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: true also in spirit. The fifteenth day of June was
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: going to be a day of destiny, a bigger destiny
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: than the killing of a daygo. It was so big
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: that I didn't blame Scudder for keeping me out of
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: the game and wanting to play a lone hand. That
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: I was pretty clear was intention. He had told me
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: something which sounded big enough, but the real thing was
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: so immortally big that he, the man who had found
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: it out, wanted it all for himself. I didn't blame him.
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: It was Risks, after all, that he was chiefly greedy about.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: The whole story was in the notes with gaps, you understand,
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: which he would have filled up from his memory. He
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: stuck down his authorities, too, and had an odd trick
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: of giving them all a numerical value, and then striking
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: a balance which stood for the reliability of each stage
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: in the yarn. The three names he had printed were authorities,
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: and there was a man Ducrosney, who got five out
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: of a possible five, and another fellow Ammersfort, who got three.
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: The bare bones of the tale were all that was
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: in the book. That and one queer phrase which occurred
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: half a dozen times inside brackets. Thirty nine steps was
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: the phrase, and at its last time of use it
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: ran thirty nine steps. I counted them high tide, ten
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: seventeen pm. I could make nothing of that. The first
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: thing I learned was that it was no question of
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: preventing a war that was coming, as sure as Christmas
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: had been arranged, said Scudder ever since February nineteen twelve.
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: Krolides was going to be the occasion. He was booked
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: all right, and was to hand in his checks on
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: June fourteenth, two weeks and four days from that May morning.
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: I gathered from Scudder's notes that nothing on earth could
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: prevent that. His talk of Eparoti guards that would skin
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: their own grandmother was all billy oh. The second thing
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: was that this war was going to come as a
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: mighty surprise. To Britain. Karoline's death would set the Balkans
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: by the ears, and then Vienna would chip in with
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: an ultimatum. Russia wouldn't like that, and there would be
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: high words, but Berlin would play the peacemaker and pour
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: oil on the waters till suddenly she would find a
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: good cause for a quarrel, pick it up and in
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: five hours let fly at us. That was the idea,
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: and a pretty good one too. Honey and fair speeches,
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: and then a stroke in the dark. While we were
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: talking about the goodwill and good intentions of Germany, our
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: coast would be silently ringed with mines, and submarines would
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: be waiting for every battleship. But all this depended upon
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: the third thing, which was due to happen on June fifteenth.
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: I would never have grasped this if I hadn't once
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: happened to meet a French staff officer coming back from
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: West Africa, who had told me a lot of things.
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: One was that in spite of all the nonsense talked
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: in Parliament, there was a real working alliance between France
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: and Britain, and that the two general staffs met every
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: now and then and made plans for joint action in
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: time of war. Well, in June, a very great swell
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: was coming over from Paris, and he was going to
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: get nothing less than a statement of the disposition of
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: the British home Fleet on mobilization. At least I gathered
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: it was something like that. Anyhow, it was something uncommonly important.
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: But on the fifteenth day of June there were to
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: be others in London, others at whom I could only guess.
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: Scudder was content to call them collectively the black Stone.
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: They represented not our allies, but our deadly foes, and
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: the information destined for France was to be diverted to
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: their pockets, and it was to be used, remember, used
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: a week or two later, with great guns and swift torpedoes. Suddenly,
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: in the darkness of a summer night, this was the
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: story I had been deciphering in the back room of
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: a country inn, overlooking a cabbage garden. This was the
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: story that hummed in my brain as I swung in
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: the big touring car from Glen to Glen. My first
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: impulse had been to write a letter to the Prime Minister,
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: but a little reflection convinced me that that would be useless.
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: Who would believe my tale. I must show a sign,
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: some token in proof, and heaven knew what that could be.
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: Above all, I must keep going, myself, ready to act
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: when things got riper, and that was going to beat
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: no light job. With the police of the British Isles
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: in full cry after me, and the watches of the
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: black Stone running silently and swiftly on my trail, I
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: had no very clear purpose in my journey, but I
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: steered east by the sun, for I remembered from the
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: map that if I went north I would come into
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: a region of coal pits and industrial towns. Presently, I
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: was down from the moorlands and traversing the broad haw
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: of a river for miles. I ran alongside a park wall,
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: and in a break of the trees I saw a
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: great castle. I swung through the little old thatched villages
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: and over peaceful lowland streams and past gardens blazing with
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: hawthorn and yellow laburnum. The land was so deep in
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: peace that I could scarcely believe that somewhere behind me
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: were those who sought my life aye, and that in
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: a month's time, unless I had the almightyest of luck,
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: these round country faces would be pinched and staring, and
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: men would be lying dead in English fields. About midday
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: I entered a long, straggling village and had a mind
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: to stop and eat. Half Way down was the post office,
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: and on the steps of it stood the postmistress and
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: a policeman, hard at work conning a telegram. When they
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: saw me, they wakened up, and the policeman advanced with
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: a raised hand and cried on me to stop. I
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: nearly was fool enough to obey. Then it flashed upon
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: me that the wire had to do with me, that
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: my friends at the inn had come to an understanding
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: and were united in desiring to see more of me,
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: and that it had been easy enough for them to
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: wire the description of me and the car to thirty
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: villages through which I might pass. I released the brakes
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: just in time, as it was. The policeman made a
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: claw at the hood and only dropped off when he
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: got my left in his eye. I saw that main
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: roads were no place for me, and turned into the byways.
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: It wasn't an easy job without a map, for there
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: was the risk of getting into a farm yard and
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: ending in a duck pond of a stable yard, and
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: I couldn't afford that kind of delay. I began to
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: see what an ass I had been to steal the car.
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: The big green brute would be the safest kind of
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: clue to me over the breadth of Scotland. If I
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: left it and took to my feet, it would be
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: discovered in an hour or two, and I would get
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: no start in the race. The immediate thing to do
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: was to get to the loneliest roads. These I soon
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: found when I struck up a tributary of the Big
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: River and got into a glen which climbed over a pass.
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: Here I met nobody, but it was taking me too
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: far north, so I slewed east along a bad track
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: and finally struck a big double line railway away. Below me,
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: I saw another broadish valley, and it occurred to me
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: that if I crossed it, I might find some remote
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: hostelry to pass the night. The evening was now drawing in,
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: and I was furiously hungry, for I had eaten nothing
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: since breakfast, except a couple of buns I had brought
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: from a baker's cart. Just then I heard a noise
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: in the sky, and lo and behold there was that
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: infernal aeroplane. Flying low, about a dozen miles to the south,
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: and rapidly coming towards me. I had the sense to
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: remember that on a bear more I was at the
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: aeroplane's mercy, and that my only chance was to get
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: to the leafy cover of the valley. Down the hill
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: I went like blue lightning, screwing my head round whenever
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: I dared to watch that damned flying machine. Soon I
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: was on a road between hedges and to the deep
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: cut glen of a stream. Then came a bit of
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: thick wood, where I slackened speed. Suddenly on my left
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: I heard the hoot of another car, and realized, to
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: my horror that I was almost upon a couple of
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: gate posts through which a private road debouched onto the highway.
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: My horn gave an agonized roar, but it was too late.
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: I clapped on my brakes, but my impetus was too great,
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: and there before me a car was sliding athwart my course.
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: In a second there would have been a deuce of
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: a wreck. I did the only thing possible and ran
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: slap into the hedge on the right, trusting to find
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: something soft beyond. But there I was mistaken. My car
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: slithered through the hedge like butter, then gave a sickening
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: plunge forward. I saw what was coming, leapt on the
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: seat and would have jumped out, but a branch of
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: hawthorn got me in the chest, lifted me up and
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: held me while a ton or two of expensive metal
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: slipped below me, bucked and pitched, and then dropped with
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: an almighty smash fifty feet to the bed of the stream.
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: Slowly that thorn let me go. I subsided first on
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: the hedge and then very gently on a bower of nettles.
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: As I scrambled to my feet, a hand took me
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: by the arm, and a sympathetic and badly scared voice
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: asked me if I were hurt. I found myself looking
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: at a tall young man in goggles and a yellow
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: ulster who kept on blessing his soul and winnying apologies
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: for myself. Once I got my wind back, I was
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: rather glad than otherwise. This was one way of getting
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: rid of the car. My blame, sir, I answered him.
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: It's lucky that I did not add homicide to my follies.
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: That's the end of my Scotch motor tour. But it
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: might have been the end of my life. He plucked
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: out a watch and studied it. You're the right sort
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: of fellow, he said. I can spare a quarter of
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: an hour, and my house is two minutes off. I'll
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: see you clothed and fed and snug in bed. Where's
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: your kit, by the way, is it in the burn
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: along with the car? It's in my pocket, I said,
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: brandishing a tooth brush. I'm a colonial and travel light.
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: A colonial, he cried. By Gad, you're the very man
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: I've been praying for. Are you, by any chance a
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: free trader? I am, said I, without the foggiest notion
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: of what he meant. He patted my shoulder and hurried
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: me into his car. Three minutes later, we drew up
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: before a comfortable looking shooting box set among pine trees,
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: and he ushered me indoors. He took me first to
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: a bedroom and flung half a dozen of his suits
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: before me, For my own had been pretty well reduced
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: to rags. I selected a loose blue surge which differed
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: most conspicuously from my own garments, and borrowed a linen collar.
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: Then he hailed me to the dining room, where the
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: remnants of a meal stood on the table and announced
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: that I had just five minutes to feed. You can
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: take a snack in your pocket and we'll have supper
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: when we get back. I've got to be at the
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: Masonic hall at eight o'clock or my agent will comb
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: my hair. I had a cup of coffee and some
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: cold ham while he yarned away on the hearth rug.
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: You find me in the juice of a mess. Mister
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: rah By the bye, you haven't told me your name
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: twistin any relation to old Tommy Twisden of the sixtieth. Now, well,
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: you see, I'm Liberal candidate for this part of the world,
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: and I had a meeting on to night at Brattleburn.
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: That's my chief town and an infernal Tory stronghold. I
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: had got the Colonial ex premiere, fellow Crumpleton coming to
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: speak for me to night, and had the thing tremendously build,
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: and the whole place ground baited. This afternoon I got
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: a wire from the Ruffian saying he is got influenza
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: at Blackpool. And here I am left to do the
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: whole thing myself. I had meant to speak for ten minutes,
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: I must now go on for forty. And though I've
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: been racking my brains for three hours to think of something.
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: I simply cannot last the course. Now you've got to
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: be a good chap and help me. You're a free
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: trader and can tell our people what a wash out
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: protection is in the colonies. All you fellows have the
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: gift of the gab. I wish to heaven I had it.
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: I'll be for evermore in your debt. I had very
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: few notions about free trade, one way or the other,
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: but I saw no other chance to get what I wanted.
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: My young gentleman was far too absorbed in his own
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: difficulties to think how odd it was to ask a
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: stranger who had just missed death by an ace, and
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: who had lost a one thousand guinea car to address
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: a meeting for him on the spur of the moment.
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: But my necessities did not allow me to contemplate oddness
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: or to pick and choose my supports. All right, I said,
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: I'm not much good as a speaker, but I'll tell
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: them a bit about Australia. At my words, the cares
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: of the ages slipped from his shoulders, and he was
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: rapturous in his thanks. He lent me a big driving
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: coat and never troubled to ask why I had started
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: on a motor tour without possessing an ulster. And as
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: we slipped down the dusty roads, poured into my ears
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: the simple facts of his history. He was an orphan
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: and his uncle had brought him up. I've forgotten the
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: uncle's name, but he was in the cabinet, and you
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: can read his speeches in the papers. He had gone
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: round the world after leaving Cambridge, and then, being short
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: of a job, his uncle had advised politics. I gathered
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: that he had no preference in parties. Good chaps in both,
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: he said, cheerfully, and plenty of blighters too. I'm a
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: liberal because my family have always been Whigs. But if
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: he was lukewarm politically, he had strong views on other things.
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: He found out that I knew a bit about horses,
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: and jawed away about the Derby entries, and he was
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: full of plans for improving his shooting. Altogether, a very clean, decent,
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: callow young man. As we passed through a little town,
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: two policemen signaled to us to stop and flashed their
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: lanterns on us. Beg pardon, sir, hurry, I've got instructions
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: to look out for a car, and the descriptions not
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: unlike yours. Right, ho, said my host when I thanked
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: Providence for the devious ways I had been brought to safety.
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: After that we spoke no more, for my host's mind
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: began to labor heavily with his coming speech. His lips
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: kept muttering, his eyes wandered, and I began to prepare
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: myself for a second catastrophe. I tried to think of
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: something to say myself, but my mind was dry as
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: a stone. The next thing I knew, we had drawn
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: up outside a door in a street and were being
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: welcomed by some noisy gentleman with rosettes. The hall had
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: about five hundred in it, women, mostly a lot of
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: bald heads, and a dozen or two young men. The chairman,
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: a Weasley minister with a reddish nose, lamented Crumpleton's absence,
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: soliloquised on his influenza, and gave me a certificate as
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: a trusted leader of Australian thought. There were two policemen
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: at the door, and I hoped they took note of
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: that testimonial. Then Sir Harry started, I've never heard anything
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: like it. He didn't begin to know how to talk.
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: He had about a bushel of notes from which he read,
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: and when he let go of them, he fell into
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: one prolonged stutter. Every now and then he remembered a
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: phrase he had learned by heart, straightened his back and
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: gave it off like Harry Irving, And the next moment
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: he was bent double and crooning over his papers. It
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: was the most appalling rot too. He talked about the
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: German menace and said it was all a Tory invention
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: to cheat the poor of their rights and keep back
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: the great flood of social reform. But that organized labor
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: realized this and laughed the Tories to scorn. He was
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: all for reducing our navy as a proof of our
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: good faith, and then sending Germany an ultimatum telling her
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: to do the same, or we would knock her into
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: a cocked hat. He said that but for the Tories,
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: Germany and Britain would be fellow workers in peace and reform.
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: I thought of the little black book in my pocket,
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: a giddy lot. Scudder's friends cared for peace and reform.
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: Yet in a queer way I liked the speech. You
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: could see the niceness of the chap shining out behind
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: the muck with which he had been spoon fed. Also,
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: it took a load off my mind. I mightn't be
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: much of an orator, but I was a thousand percent
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: better than Sir Harry. I didn't get on so badly.
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: When it came to my turn, I simply told them
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: all I could remember about Australia, praying there should be
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: no Australian there, all about its Labor Party and immigration
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: and universal service. I doubt if I remembered to mention
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: free trade, but I said there were no Tories in Australia,
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: only Labor and liberals. That fetched a cheer, and I
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: woke them up a bit when I started in to
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: tell them the kind of glorious business I thought could
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: be made out of the Empire if we really put
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: our backs into it. Although I fancy I was rather success.
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: The Minister didn't like me, though, and when he proposed
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: a vote of thanks, spoke of Sir Harry's speech as
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: statesman like and mine as having the eloquence of an
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: immigration agent. When we were in the car again, my
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: host was in wild spirits, having got his job over
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: a ripping speech Twisden. He said, now you're coming home
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: with me. I'm all alone, and if you'll stop a
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: dale two, I'll show you some very decent fishing. We
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: had a hot supper and I wanted it pretty badly,
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: and then drank grog in a big, cheery smoking room
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: with a crackling wood fire. I thought the time had
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: come for me to put my cards on the table.
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: I saw by this man's eye that he was the
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: kind you can trust. Listen, sir Harry, I said, I've
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: got something pretty important to say to you. You're a
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: good fellow, and I'm going to be frank. Where on
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: earth did you get that poisonous rubbish you talk last night?
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: His face fell. Was it as bad as that? He asked? Ruefully?
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: It did sound rather thin. I got most of it
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: out of the progressive magazine and pamphlets that agent chap
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 1: of mine keep sending me. But surely you don't think
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 1: Germany would ever go to war with us? Ask that
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: question in six weeks and it won't need an answer,
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 1: I said. But if you'll give me your attention for
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: half an hour, I'm going to tell you a story.
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: I can see yet that bright room with the deer's
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: heads and the old prints on the walls, Sir Harry,
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: standing restlessly on the stone curb of the hearth, and
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: myself lying back in an armchair speaking. I seemed to
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 1: be another person standing aside and listening to my own voice,
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: and judging carefully the reliability of my tale. It was
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: the first time I had ever told anyone the exact truth.
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: So far I understood it, and it did me no
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: end of good, for it straightened out the thing in
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: my own mind. I blinked no detail. He heard all
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: about Scudder and the milkman, and the notebook and my
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: doings in Galloway. Presently he got very excited and walked
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: up and down the hearthrug. So you see, I concluded,
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: you have got here in your house the man that
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: is wanted for the Portland Place murder. Your duty is
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: to send your car for the police and give me up.
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: I don't think i'll get very far. There'll be an
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: accident and i'll have a knife in my ribs in
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: an hour or two after a rest. Nevertheless, it's your
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: duty as a law abiding citizen. Perhaps in a month's
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: time you'll be sorry, but you'll have no cause to
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: think of that. He was looking at me with bright,
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: steady eyes. What was your job in Rudisha, mister Hanney,
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: he asked, mining engineer. I said, I made my pile cleanly,
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: and I've had a good time in the making of it.
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: Not a profession that weakens the nerves, is it, I laughed?
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: Oh as to that, My nerves are good enough. I
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: took down a hunting knife from a stand on the
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: wall and did the old Mashona trick of tossing it
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 1: and catching it in my lips. That wants a pretty
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: steady heart, he watched me with a smile. I don't
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: want proofs. I may be in an ass on a platform,
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: but I can size up a man. You're no murderer,
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: and you're no fool, and I believe you are speaking
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: the truth. I'm going to back you up. Now, what
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: can I do? First? I want you to write a
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 1: letter to your uncle. I've got to get in touch
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: with the government people sometime before the fifteenth of June.
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: He pulled his mustache. That won't help you. This is
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: foreign office business, and my uncle would have nothing to
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: do it. Besides, you'll never convince him. No, I'll go
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: one better. I'll write the Permanent Secretary at the Foreign
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: Office he's my godfather and one of the best going.
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: What do you want? He sat down at the table
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: and wrote to my dictation. The gist of it was
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: that if a man called Twisden, I thought I'd better
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: stick to that name turned up before June fifteenth, he
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 1: was to treat him kindly. He said Twisden would prove
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 1: his bona fides by passing the word black stone and whistling.
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: Annie Laurie Good said, Sir Harry, that's the proper style.
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: By the way, you'll find my godfather. His name's Sir
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: Walter Bullivant down at his country cottage for Whitsuntide. It's
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: close to Artinswell on the Kennett. That's done. Now, what's
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: the next thing. You're about my height. Lend me the
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: oldest tweed suit you've got. Anything will do, so long
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: as the color is the opposite for the clothes I
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: destroyed this afternoon. Then show me a map of the
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: neighborhood and explain to me the lie of the land. Lastly,
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: if the police come asking about me, just show them
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: the car in the glen. If the other lot turn up,
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: tell them I caught the South Express after your meeting.
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: He did, or promised to do all these things. I
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: shaved off the remnants of my mustache and got inside
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: an ancient suit of what I believe is called heather mixture.
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: The map gave me some notion of my whereabouts and
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: told me the two things I wanted to know, where
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: the Moon Railway to the south could be joined, and
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: what were the wildest districts near at hand. At two
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: o'clock he wakened me from my slumbered in the smoking
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: room arm chair and led me blinking into the dark,
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: starry night. An old bicycle was found in a tool
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: shed and handed over to me. First turn to the right,
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: up by the long fir wood he enjoined. By daybreak,
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: you'll be well into the hills. Then I should pitch
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: the machine into a bog and take to the moors
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: on foot. You can put in a week among the
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: shepherds and be as safe as you wear a new guinea.
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: I pedaled diligently up steep roads of hill gravel till
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: the skies grew pale with morning. As the mists cleared
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: before the sun, I found myself in a wide, green
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: world of glens falling on every side, and a far
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: away blue horizon here at any rate I could get
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: early news of my enemies. End of chapter four, Chapter five,
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: The Adventure of the Spectacled road Man. I sat down
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: on the very crest of the pass and took stock
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: of my position. Behind me was the road climbing through
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: a long cleft in the hills, which was the upper
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: glen of some notable river. In front was a flat
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 1: space of maybe a mile, all pitted with bog holes
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: and rough with tussocks. And then beyond it the road
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: fell steeply down another glen to a plain whose blue
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 1: dimness melted into the distance. To left and right were
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: round shouldered green hills, as smooth as pancakes. But to
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: the south, that is the left hand, there was a
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: glimpse of high, heathery mountains, which I remembered from the
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: map as the big knot of hill which I had
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 1: chosen for my sanctuary. I was on the central buss
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: of a huge upland country and could see everything moving
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: for miles. In the meadow below the road, half a
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: mile back, a cottage smoked, but it was the only
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: sign of human life. Otherwise there was only the cooling
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: of plovers and the tinkling of little streams. It was
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: now about seven o'clock, and as I waited, I heard
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 1: once again the ominous beat in the air. Then I
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 1: realized that my vantage ground might in reality be a trap.
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: There was no cover for a tauntit in those bald
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: green places. I sat quite still and hopeless while the
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: beat grew louder. Then I saw an aeroplane coming up
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: from the east. It was flying high, but as I looked,
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: it dropped several hundred feet and began to circle round
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: the knot of hill in narrowing circles, just as a
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: hawk wheels before it pounces. Now it was flying very low,
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: and now the observer on board caught sight of me.
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: I could see one of the two occupants examining me
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: through glasses. Suddenly it began to rise in swift whirls,
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: and the next I knew it was speeding eastward again,
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: till it became a speck in the blue morning. That
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: made me do some savage thinking. My enemies had located me,
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 1: and the next thing would be a cordon around me.
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: I didn't know what force they could command, but I
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: was certain it would be sufficient. The aeroplane had seen
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: my bicycle and would conclude that I would try to
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: escape by the road. In that case there might be
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: a chance on the moors to the right or left.
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: I wheeled the machine a hundred yards from the highway
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 1: and plunged it into a moss hole, where it sank
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: among pond weed and water buttercups. Then I climbed to
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: a knoll, which gave me a view of the two valleys.
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 1: Nothing was stirring on the long white ribbon that threaded them.
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: I have said there was not cover in the whole
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: place to hide a rat. As the day advanced, it
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: was flooded with soft, fresh light till it had the
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 1: fragrant sunniness of the South African velt. At other times
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: I should have liked the place, but now it seemed
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: to suffocate me. The free moorlands were prison walls, and
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: the keen hill air was the breath of a dungeon.
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: I tossed a coin heads right, tails left, and it
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: fell heads. So I turned to the north, and a
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: little I came to the brow of the ridge, which
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 1: was the containing wall of the pass. I saw the
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: high road for maybe ten miles, and far down it
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: something that was moving, and that I took to be
• 1:46:35
  Speaker 1: a motor car. Beyond the ridge, I looked on a
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: rolling green moor which fell away into wooded glens. Now
• 1:46:43
  Speaker 1: my life on the velt has given me the eyes
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 1: of a kite, and I can see things for which
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: most men need a telescope. Away down the slope, a
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: couple of miles away, several men were advancing like a
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: row of beaters at a chute out of sight behind
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: the sky line. That way was shut to me, and
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: I must try the bigger hills to the south beyond
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: the highway. The car I had noticed was getting nearer,
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: but it was still a long way off, with some
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: very steep gradients before it. I ran hard, crouching low
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: except in the hollows, and as I ran, I kept
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: scanning the brow of the hill before me. Was it imagination?
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: Or did I see figures one? Two perhaps more? Moving
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: in a glen beyond the stream. If you are hemmed
• 1:47:35
  Speaker 1: in on all sides in a patch of land, there
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: is only one chance of escape. You must stay in
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: the patch and let your enemies search it and not
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: find you. That was good sense. But how on earth
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: was I to escape notice? On that tablecloth of a
• 1:47:52
  Speaker 1: place I would have buried myself to the neck in mud,
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: or lain below water, or climbed the tall tree. But
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: there was not a stick of wood. These bog holes
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: were little puddles. The stream was a slender trickle. There
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: was nothing but short heather and bare hill bent and
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: the white highway. Then, in a tiny bright of road,
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: beside a heap of stones, I found the roadman. He
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 1: had just arrived and was wearily flinging down his hammer.
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: He looked at me with a fishy eye and yawned.
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 1: Confooned the deer ever left their hair din, he said,
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 1: as if to the world at large, there I was
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: my ain. Measter knew I'm a slave to the government.
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: Tether to the roadside where serin and black like a suckle.
• 1:48:49
  Speaker 1: He took up the hammer, struck a stone, dropped the
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: implement with an oath, and put both hands to his ears.
• 1:48:57
  Speaker 1: Mercy on me. My head's burst, he cried. He was
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: a wild figure about my own size, but much bent,
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: with a weak speard on his chin and a pair
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: of big horned spectacles. I canna daint, he cried again.
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: The surveyor man, just report me. I'm for my bed.
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: I asked him, what was the trouble, though, indeed that
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 1: was clear enough. The trouble is that I'm no sober.
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 1: Last nick, my doctor Meren was wadded and they danced
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: till four in the byre me and some ether chill
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: sit down to the drinkin and here I am pity
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: that I've a look in the wine when it was red.
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: I greed with him about bed. It's easy speaking, he moaned,
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: But I've got a postcard yester Ian saying that the
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 1: new road Surveyor would be round the day. He'll come
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: and he'll no find me, or else you'll find me
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: foo and either we am a dun man. I'll a
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 1: walk back to my bed and say I'm no wheel,
• 1:50:07
  Speaker 1: but i'd do that'll nor help me fur They can
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: my kind and no weillness. Then I had an inspiration.
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: Does the new surveyor know you? I asked? Know him?
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: He's just been a week at the job. He runs
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 1: about in a wee motor car and words spear the
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: inot or a whelk. Where's your house, I asked, and
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: was directed by a wavering finger to the cottage by
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: the stream. Well back to your bed, I said, and
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: sleep in peace. I'll take on your job for a
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: bit and see the surveyor. He stared at me blankly.
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: Then as the notion dawned on his fuddled brain, his
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: face broke into the vacant, drunkard smile. You're the billy,
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: he cried. It'll be easier nor managed. I finished that
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: binger stains an Yo needn' a chap o mare this forenoon.
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: Jest take the barry and wail enough MeTL free your
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: quarry down the road to make a ni'er bang the morn.
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: My name's Alexander Turnbull, and I've been seven year at
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: this trade, and twenty afore that Herdin on lethen Water.
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: My friends call me ekei. And while specky for aware glasses,
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: beIN weak yer the sicked, Just ye speak to the
• 1:51:29
  Speaker 1: severe fair and calum, sir, and he'll be fell pleased.
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 1: I'll be back a mid day. I borrowed his spectacle
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 1: and filthy old hat, stripped off coat, waistcoat and collar,
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 1: and gave him them to carry home. Borrowed too, the
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 1: foul stump of a clay pipe as an extra property.
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: He indicated my simple tasks, and without more Ado set
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: off at an amble bed woods bed may have been
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: his chief object, but I think that there was also
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 1: something left in the foot of a bottle. I prayed
• 1:52:06
  Speaker 1: that he might be safe under cover before my friends
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 1: arrived on the scene. Then I set to work to
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: dress for the part. I opened the collar of my shirt.
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: It was a vulgar blue and white check, such as
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: plow and wear, and revealed a neck as brown as
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: any tinkers. I rolled up my sleeves, and there was
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 1: a forearm which might have been a blacksmith's, sunburned and
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: rough with old scars. I got my boots and trouser legs,
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 1: all white from the dust of the road, and hitched
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: up my trousers, tying them with string below the knee.
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: Then I set to work on my face. With a
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: handful of dust, I made a water mark round my neck,
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: the place where mister Turnbull's Sunday ablutions might be expected
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: to stop. I rubbed a good deal of dirt, also
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 1: into the sunburn of my cheeks. A road man's eyes
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 1: would no doubt be at inflamed, so I contrived to
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: get some dust in both of mine, and by dint
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 1: of vigorous rubbing, produced a bleary effect. The sandwiches Sir
• 1:53:10
  Speaker 1: Harry had given me had gone off with my coat,
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 1: but the roadman's lunch, tied up in a red handkerchief,
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: was at my disposal. I ate with great relish several
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: of the thick slabs of scone and cheese, and drank
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 1: a little of the cold tea. In the handkerchief was
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: a local paper, tied with string and addressed to mister Turnbull,
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: obviously meant to solace his midday leisure. I did up
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: the bundle again and put the paper conspicuously beside it.
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: My boots did not satisfy me, but by dint of
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: kicking among the stones, I reduced them to the granite
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 1: like surface which marks the roadman's foot gear. Then I
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 1: bit and scraped up my fingernails till the edges were
• 1:53:55
  Speaker 1: all cracked and uneven. The man I was matched against
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 1: wood miss no detail. I broke one of the bootlaces
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: and retied it in a clumsy knot, and loosened the
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: other so that my thick gray socks bulged over the uppers.
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: Still no sign of anything on the road. The motor
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: I had observed half an hour ago must have gone home.
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 1: My toilette complete, I took up the barrow and began
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 1: my journeys to and from the quarry a hundred yars off.
• 1:54:25
  Speaker 1: I remembered an old scout in Rhodesia, who had done
• 1:54:28
  Speaker 1: many queer things in his day, once telling me that
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 1: the secret of playing a part was to think yourself
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: into it. You could never keep it up, he said,
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: unless you could manage to convince yourself that you were it.
• 1:54:42
  Speaker 1: So I shut off all other thoughts and switched them
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: on the road mending. I thought of the little white
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: cottage as my home. I recalled the years I had
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 1: spent herding on lethen water. I made my mind dwell
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 1: lovingly on sleep in a box bed and a bottle
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: of cheap whisky. Still nothing appeared on that long white road.
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 1: Now and then a sheep wandered off the heather to
• 1:55:08
  Speaker 1: stare at me. A heron flopped down to a pool
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 1: in the stream and started to fish, taking no more
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 1: notice of me than if I had been a milestone. On.
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: I went trandling my loads of stone with the heavy
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 1: step of the professional. Soon I grew warm, and the
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 1: dust on my face changed to sollid and abiding grit.
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: I was already counting the hours till evenings should put
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: a limit to mister Turnbull's monotonous toil. Suddenly, a crisp
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 1: voice spoke from the road, and looking up I saw
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 1: a little Ford two seater and a round faced young
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: man in a bowler hat. Are you Alexander Turnbull? He asked?
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: I am the new County Road Surveyor. You live at
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 1: black Hopefoot and have charge of the section from laid
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 1: law buyers to the rigs. Good a fair bit of road, Turnbull,
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 1: and not badly engineered, A little soft about a mile off,
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: and the edges want cleaning. See you look after that
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: good morning. You'll know me the next time you see me. Clearly,
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: my get up was good enough for the dreaded surveyor.
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 1: I went on with my work, and as the morning
• 1:56:20
  Speaker 1: grew towards noon, I was cheered by a little traffic.
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 1: A baker's van breasted the hill and sold me a
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 1: bag of ginger biscuits, which I stowed in my trouser
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: pockets against emergencies. Then a herd passed with sheep and
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 1: disturbed me somewhat by asking loudly, what have become a
• 1:56:39
  Speaker 1: specky in bed with a colock? I replied, and the
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 1: herd passed on. Just about mid day, a big car
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: stole down the hill, glided past, and drew up a
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: hundred yards beyond. Its Three occupants descended as if to
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 1: stretch their legs, and sauntered towards me. Two of the
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: men I had seen before from the window of the
• 1:57:01
  Speaker 1: Galloway Inn. One lean sharp and dark, the other comfortable
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 1: and smiling. The third had the look of a countryman,
• 1:57:11
  Speaker 1: a vet perhaps, or a small farmer. He was dressed
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: in ill cut knickerbockers, and the eye in his head
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: was as bright and wary as a hen's morning. Said
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: the last, that's a fine, easy job of yours. I
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: had not looked up on their approach, and now, when accosted,
• 1:57:30
  Speaker 1: I slowly and painfully straightened my back after the manner
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 1: of road men, spat vigorously after the manner of the
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 1: low scot, and regarded them steadily. Before replying, I confronted
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: three pairs of eyes that missed nothing. There's we're jobs,
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 1: and there's better, I said, sentitiously. I would rather hear
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: you're sitting a day on your hinderlans on the cushions.
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 1: It's you and your mucklecres that recros and if we
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: had or it's you'd should be made to mend what
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 1: ye break. The bright eyed man was looking at the
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 1: newspaper lying beside Turnbull's bundle. I see you get your
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: papers in good time, he said. I glanced at it casually, Ah,
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 1: in good time, seeing that people come at last Saturday.
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 1: I'm just four days late. He picked it up, glanced
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 1: at the superscription, and laid it down again. One of
• 1:58:31
  Speaker 1: the others had been looking at my boots, and a
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: word in German called the speaker's attention to them. You've
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 1: a fine taste in boots. He said, these were never
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 1: made by a country shoemaker. They were not, I said readily,
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 1: they were made in London. I got them free of
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 1: the gentleman that was here last year for the shootin'
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: what was his name? New I scratched a forgetful head again.
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 1: The sleek, one spoken German let us get on, he said,
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: this fellow is all right. Then they asked one last question.
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: Did you see anyone pass early this morning? He might
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 1: be on a bicycle, or he might be on foot.
• 1:59:14
  Speaker 1: I nearly fell into the trap and told a story
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 1: of a bicycle hurrying past in the gray dawn. But
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 1: I had a sense to see my danger and pretended
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: to consider very deeply. I was not up very early,
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: I said, you see, my doctor was merit last nicked,
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 1: and we kept it up late. I opened the hoose
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 1: door about seven, and there was nearbody on the road. Then,
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 1: since I come up here, there's been just the baker
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 1: and the chill herd besides you, gentlemen. One of them
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: gave me a cigar, which I smelled gingerly, and stuck
• 1:59:49
  Speaker 1: in Turnbull's bundle. They got into their car and were
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 1: out of sight in three minutes. My heart leapt with
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: enormous relief, but I went on wheeling my stones. It
• 2:00:01
  Speaker 1: was as well for ten minutes later the car returned,
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 1: one of the occupants waving a hand to me. These
• 2:00:08
  Speaker 1: gentry left nothing to chance. I finished Turnbull's bread and cheese,
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 1: and pretty soon I had finished the stones. The next
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 1: step was what puzzled me. I could not keep up
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 1: this road making business for long. A merciful providence had
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 1: kept mister Turnbull indoors, but if he appeared on the
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 1: scene there would be trouble. I had a notion that
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 1: the cordon was still tight round the glen, and that
• 2:00:34
  Speaker 1: if I walked in any direction I should meet with questioners.
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 1: But get out I must. No man's nerve could stand
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 1: more than a day of being spied on. I stayed
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: at my post till about five o'clock. By that time
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 1: I had resolved to go down to Turnbull's cottage at
• 2:00:52
  Speaker 1: nightfall and take my chance of getting over the hills
• 2:00:55
  Speaker 1: in the darkness. But suddenly a new car came up
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 1: the road and slowed down a young two from me.
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: A fresh wind had risen, and the occupant wanted to
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: light a cigarette. It was a touring car with the
• 2:01:08
  Speaker 1: tonneau full of an assortment of baggage. While man sat
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: in it, and by an amazing chance I knew him.
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: His name was Marmaduke Jopley, and he was an offense
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: to creation. He was a sort of blood stockbroker who
• 2:01:24
  Speaker 1: did his business by toadying eldest sons and rich young
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: peers and foolish old ladies. Marmee was a familiar figure
• 2:01:33
  Speaker 1: I understood at balls and polo weeks and country houses.
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: He was an adroit scandalmonger, and would crawl a mile
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 1: on his belly to anything that had a title or
• 2:01:44
  Speaker 1: a million. I had a business introduction to his firm
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 1: when I came to London, and he was good enough
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: to ask me to dinner at his club. There he
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 1: showed off at a great rate and patted about his
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 1: duchess till the snobbery of the creature turned me sick.
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 1: I asked a man afterwards why nobody kicked him, and
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 1: was told that an Englishman reverenced the weaker sex. Anyhow,
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 1: there he was, now Natalie, dressed in a fine new car,
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 1: obviously on his way to visit some of his fine friends.
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 1: A sudden daftness took me, and in a second I
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 1: had jumped into the tonneau and had him by the shoulder. Hello, Jopley,
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 1: I sang out, Well, met my lad. He got a
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 1: horrible fright. His chin dropped as he stared at me.
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 1: Who the devil are you? He gasped. My name's Hannie,
• 2:02:38
  Speaker 1: I said, from Rhodesia. You remember, good God, the murderer.
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 1: He choked just so, and there'll be a second murder.
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 1: My dear, if you don't do as I tell you,
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 1: give me that coat of yours that cap too. He
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 1: did as he was bid for he was blind with
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 1: terror over my dirty trail and vulgar shirt. I put
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 1: on his smart driving coat, which buttoned high up to
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 1: the top and thereby hid the deficiencies of my collar.
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: I stuck the cap on my head and added his
• 2:03:11
  Speaker 1: gloves to my get up. The dusty roadman in a
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 1: minute was transformed into one of the neatest motorists in Scotland.
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 1: On mister Jopley's head, I clapped Turnbull's unspeakable hat and
• 2:03:25
  Speaker 1: told him to keep it there. Then, with some difficulty,
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 1: I turned the car. My plan was to go back
• 2:03:31
  Speaker 1: the road he had come, for the watchers, having seen
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 1: it before, would probably let it pass unremarked, and Marmy's
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 1: figure was in no way like mine. Now, my child,
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: I said, sit quite still and be a good boy.
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 1: I mean you no harm. I'm only borrowing your car
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: for an hour or two. But if you play me
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 1: any tricks, and above all, if you open your mouth,
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 1: as sure as there's a god above me, I'll wring
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: your neck. Savvy I enjoyed that evening's ride. We ran
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 1: eight miles down the valley through a village or two,
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 1: and I could not help noticing several strange looking folk
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 1: lounging by the roadside. These were the watchers who would
• 2:04:16
  Speaker 1: have had much to say to me if I had
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 1: come in other garb or company. As it was, they
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 1: looked incuriously. On one touched his cap in salute, and
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 1: I responded graciously. As the dark fell, I turned up
• 2:04:31
  Speaker 1: a side glen, which, as I remembered from the map,
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 1: led into an unfrequented corner of the hills. Soon the
• 2:04:38
  Speaker 1: villages were left behind, then the farms, and then even
• 2:04:42
  Speaker 1: the wayside cottages. Presently we came to a lonely moor
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 1: where the night was blackening the sunset gleam in the
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 1: bog pools. Here we stopped, and I obligingly reversed the
• 2:04:54
  Speaker 1: car and restored to mister Jopley his belongings. A thousand thanks,
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 1: I said, there's more use in you than I thought.
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 1: Now be off and find the police. As I sat
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 1: on the hillside, watching the twilight dwindle, I reflected on
• 2:05:11
  Speaker 1: the various kinds of crime I had now sampled. Contrary
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 1: to general belief, I was not a murderer, but I
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 1: had become an unholy liar, a shameless impostor, and a
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 1: highwayman with a marked taste for expensive motor cars. End
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: of chapter five, Chapter six, The Adventure of the Bald Archeologist.
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 1: I spent the night on a shelf of the hillside,
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: in the lee of a boulder, where the heather grew
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 1: long and soft. It was a cold business, for I
• 2:05:45
  Speaker 1: had neither coat nor waistcoat lows were in mister Turnbull's keep,
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 1: as was Scudder's little book, my watch, and worst of all,
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 1: my pipe and tobacco pouch. Only my money accompanied me
• 2:05:59
  Speaker 1: in my bed, and half a pound of ginger biscuits
• 2:06:02
  Speaker 1: in my trousers pocket. I sucked off half those biscuits,
• 2:06:07
  Speaker 1: and by worming myself deep into the heather, got some
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 1: kind of warmth. My spirits had risen, and I was
• 2:06:14
  Speaker 1: beginning to enjoy this crazy game of hide and seek.
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 1: So far I had been miraculously lucky. The milkman, the
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 1: literary innkeeper, Sir Harry, the roadman, and the idiotic Marmie
• 2:06:28
  Speaker 1: were all pieces of undeserved good fortune. Somehow, the first
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: success gave me a feeling that I should pull through.
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 1: My chief trouble was that I was desperately hungry. When
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: a jew shoots himself in the city and there is
• 2:06:43
  Speaker 1: an inquest, the newspapers usually report that the deceased was
• 2:06:48
  Speaker 1: well nourished. I remember thinking that they would not call
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 1: me well nourished if I broke my neck in a
• 2:06:54
  Speaker 1: bog hole. I lay and tortured myself, for the ginger
• 2:06:59
  Speaker 1: biscuits merely emphasized the aching void with the memory of
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 1: all the good food I had thought so little of
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 1: in London. There were paddocks, crisp sausages, and fragrant shavings
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 1: of bacon, and shapely poached eggs. How often I had
• 2:07:15
  Speaker 1: turned up my nose at them. There were the cutlets
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 1: they did at the club, and a particular ham that
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 1: stood on the cold table for which my soul lusted.
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 1: My thoughts hovered over all the variety of mortal edible,
• 2:07:29
  Speaker 1: and finally settled on a porter House steak and a
• 2:07:33
  Speaker 1: quart of bitter, with a Welsh rare bit to follow.
• 2:07:36
  Speaker 1: In longing hopelessly for these dainties, I fell asleep. I
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 1: woke very cold and stiff, about an hour after dawn.
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 1: It took me a little while to remember where I was,
• 2:07:48
  Speaker 1: for I had been very weary and slept heavily. I
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: saw first the pale blue sky through a net of heather,
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: then a big shoulder of hill, and then my own boots,
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: placed neatly in a BlackBerry bush. I raised myself on
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: my arms and looked down into the valley, and that
• 2:08:07
  Speaker 1: one look set me lacing up my boots in mad haste,
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 1: for there were men below, not more than a quarter
• 2:08:14
  Speaker 1: of a mile off, spaced out on the hillside like
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 1: a fan and beating the heather. Marmie had not been
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 1: slow in looking for his revenge. I crawled out of
• 2:08:26
  Speaker 1: my shelf into the cover of a boulder, and from
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 1: it gained a shallow trench which slanted up the mountain face.
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 1: This led me presently into the narrow gully of a burn,
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 1: by which way I scrambled to the top of the ridge.
• 2:08:40
  Speaker 1: From there I looked back and saw that I was
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 1: still undiscovered. My pursuers were patiently quartering the hillside and
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 1: moving upwards, keeping behind the sky line. I ran for
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 1: maybe half a mile till I judged I was above
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 1: the uppermost end of the glen. Then I showed myself
• 2:08:59
  Speaker 1: and was instantly noted by one of the flankers, who
• 2:09:02
  Speaker 1: passed the word to the others. I heard cries coming
• 2:09:05
  Speaker 1: up from below, and saw that the line of search
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 1: had changed its direction. I pretended to retreat over the
• 2:09:12
  Speaker 1: sky line, but instead went back the way I had come,
• 2:09:16
  Speaker 1: and in twenty minutes was behind the ridge, overlooking my
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 1: sleeping place. From that viewpoint, I had the satisfaction of
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 1: seeing the pursuit streaming up the hill at the top
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 1: of the glen on a hopelessly false scent. I had
• 2:09:29
  Speaker 1: before me a choice of roots, and I chose a
• 2:09:32
  Speaker 1: ridge which made an angle with the one I was on,
• 2:09:35
  Speaker 1: and so would soon put a deep glen between me
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 1: and my enemies. The exercise had warmed my blood, and
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 1: I was beginning to enjoy myself amazingly as I went.
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 1: I had breakfasted on the dusty remnants of the ginger biscuits.
• 2:09:51
  Speaker 1: I knew very little about the country, and I hadn't
• 2:09:54
  Speaker 1: a notion what I was going to do. I trusted
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 1: to the strength of my legs, but I I was
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 1: well aware that those behind me would be familiar with
• 2:10:03
  Speaker 1: the lie of the land, and that my ignorance would
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 1: be a heavy handicap. I saw in front of me
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 1: a sea of hills rising very high towards the south,
• 2:10:13
  Speaker 1: but northwards, breaking down into broad ridges which separated wide
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 1: and shallow dales. The ridge I had chosen seemed to
• 2:10:21
  Speaker 1: sink after a mile or two to a moor which
• 2:10:24
  Speaker 1: lay like a pocket in the uplands. That seemed as
• 2:10:28
  Speaker 1: good a direction to take as any other. My stratagem
• 2:10:31
  Speaker 1: had given me a fair start and call it twenty minutes,
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: and I had the width of a glen behind me
• 2:10:37
  Speaker 1: before I saw the first heads of the pursuers. The
• 2:10:41
  Speaker 1: police had evidently called in local herds or gamekeepers. They
• 2:10:45
  Speaker 1: hallooed at the sight of me, and I waved my hand.
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 1: Two dived into the glen and began to climb my ridge,
• 2:10:53
  Speaker 1: while the others kept their own side of the hill.
• 2:10:56
  Speaker 1: I felt as if I were taking part in a
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: schoolboy game of hare and hounds, but very soon it
• 2:11:02
  Speaker 1: became to seem less of a game. These fellows behind
• 2:11:06
  Speaker 1: were hefty men on their native heath. Looking back, I
• 2:11:10
  Speaker 1: saw that only three were following direct and I guessed
• 2:11:13
  Speaker 1: that the others had fetched a circuit to cut me off.
• 2:11:17
  Speaker 1: My lack of local knowledge might very well be my undoing,
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 1: and I resolved to get out of this tangle of
• 2:11:23
  Speaker 1: glens to the pocket of more I had seen from
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 1: the tops. I must so increase my distance as to
• 2:11:29
  Speaker 1: get clear away from them. And I believed I could
• 2:11:32
  Speaker 1: do this if I could find the right ground for it.
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 1: If there had been cover, I would have tried a
• 2:11:37
  Speaker 1: bit of stalking. But on these bare slopes you could
• 2:11:41
  Speaker 1: see a fly a mile off. My hope must be
• 2:11:45
  Speaker 1: in the length of my legs and the soundness of
• 2:11:47
  Speaker 1: my wind. But I needed easier ground for that, for
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 1: I was not bred a mountaineer. How I longed for
• 2:11:54
  Speaker 1: a good Africana pony. I put on a great spurt
• 2:11:59
  Speaker 1: and got off my ridge and down into the moor
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 1: before any figures appeared on the sky line behind me.
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 1: I crossed the burn and came out on a high
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 1: road which made a pass between two glens. All in
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 1: front of me was a big field of heather sloping
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 1: up to a crest which was crowned with an odd
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 1: feather of trees in the dike. By the roadside was
• 2:12:22
  Speaker 1: a gate from which a grass grown track led over
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 1: the first wave of the moor. I jumped the dike
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 1: and followed it, and after a few hundred yards, as
• 2:12:32
  Speaker 1: soon as it was out of sight of the highway.
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 1: The grass stopped, and it became a very respectable road,
• 2:12:38
  Speaker 1: which was evidently kept with some care. Clearly it ran
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 1: to a house, and I began to think of doing
• 2:12:45
  Speaker 1: the same. Hitherto my luck had held, and it might
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 1: be that my best chance would be found in this
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 1: remote dwelling. Anyhow, there were trees there, and that meant cover.
• 2:12:56
  Speaker 1: I did not follow the road, but the burn side
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 1: which flanked it on the right, where the bracken grew
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 1: deep and the high banks made a tolerable screen. It
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 1: was well I did so, for no sooner had I
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 1: gained the hollow, than looking back, I saw the pursuit
• 2:13:12
  Speaker 1: topping the ridge from which I had descended. After that,
• 2:13:16
  Speaker 1: I did not look back. I had no time. I
• 2:13:19
  Speaker 1: ran up the burnside, crawling over the open places, and
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 1: for a large part wading in the shallow stream. I
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 1: found a deserted cottage with a row of phantom peat
• 2:13:29
  Speaker 1: stacks and an overgrown garden. Then I was among young hay,
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 1: and very soon had come to the edge of a
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 1: plantation of wind blown firs. From there I saw the
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: chimneys of the house smoking A few hundred yards to
• 2:13:43
  Speaker 1: my left. I forsook the burnside, crossed another dike, and
• 2:13:48
  Speaker 1: almost before I knew was on a rough lawn. A
• 2:13:52
  Speaker 1: glance back told me that I was well out of
• 2:13:54
  Speaker 1: sight of the pursuit, which had not yet passed the
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 1: first lift of the moor. The lawn was a very
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 1: rough place, cut with a scythe instead of a moa,
• 2:14:04
  Speaker 1: and planted with beds of scrubby rhododendrons. A brace of
• 2:14:08
  Speaker 1: black game, which are not usually garden birds, rose at
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 1: my approach. The house before me was the ordinary moorland farm,
• 2:14:17
  Speaker 1: with a more pretentious whitewashed wing added. Attached to this
• 2:14:22
  Speaker 1: wing was a glass veranda, and through the glass I
• 2:14:25
  Speaker 1: saw the face of an elderly gentleman, meekly watching me.
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 1: I stalked over the border of coarse hill gravel and
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 1: entered the veranda door. Within was a pleasant room, glass
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 1: on one side, and on the other a mass of books.
• 2:14:42
  Speaker 1: More books showed in an inner room. On the floor,
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 1: instead of tables, stood cases such as you see in
• 2:14:48
  Speaker 1: a museum, filled with coins and queer stone implements. There
• 2:14:53
  Speaker 1: was a knee whole desk in the middle, and seated
• 2:14:56
  Speaker 1: at it with some papers and open volumes. Before him
• 2:14:59
  Speaker 1: was the benevolent old gentleman. His face was round and shiny,
• 2:15:04
  Speaker 1: like mister Pickwick's. Big glasses were stuck on the end
• 2:15:08
  Speaker 1: of his nose, and the top of his head was
• 2:15:10
  Speaker 1: as bright and bare as a glass bottle. He never
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 1: moved when I entered, but raised his placid eyebrows and
• 2:15:17
  Speaker 1: waited on me to speak. It was not an easy job,
• 2:15:21
  Speaker 1: with about five minutes to spare, to tell a stranger
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 1: who I was and what I wanted, and to win
• 2:15:27
  Speaker 1: his aid. I did not attempt it. There was something
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 1: about the eye of the man before me, something so
• 2:15:34
  Speaker 1: keen and knowledgeable that I could not find a word.
• 2:15:37
  Speaker 1: I simply stared at him and stuttered. You see in
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 1: a hurry, my friend, he said slowly. I nodded towards
• 2:15:45
  Speaker 1: the window. It gave a prospect across the moor through
• 2:15:49
  Speaker 1: a gap in the plantation, and revealed certain figures half
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 1: a mile off, straggling through the heather. Ah, I see,
• 2:15:57
  Speaker 1: he said, and took up a pair of field glasses,
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 1: through which he patiently scrutinized the figures. A fugitive from justice. Eh, well,
• 2:16:06
  Speaker 1: we'll go into the matter at our leisure. Meantime, I
• 2:16:10
  Speaker 1: object to my privacy being broken in upon by the
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 1: clumsy rural policeman. Go into my study and you will
• 2:16:17
  Speaker 1: see two doors facing you. Take the one to the
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 1: left and close it behind you. You will be perfectly safe.
• 2:16:25
  Speaker 1: And this extraordinary man took up his pen. Again. I
• 2:16:29
  Speaker 1: did as I was beard, and found myself in a
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 1: little dark chamber which smelled of chemicals and was lit
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 1: only by a tiny window high up in the wall.
• 2:16:40
  Speaker 1: The door had swung behind me with a click, like
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 1: the door of a safe. Once again I had found
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 1: an unexpected sanctuary. All the same, I was not comfortable.
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 1: There was something about the old gentleman which puzzled and
• 2:16:54
  Speaker 1: rather terrified me. He had been too easy and ready,
• 2:16:59
  Speaker 1: almost as if he had expected me, and his eyes
• 2:17:02
  Speaker 1: had been horribly intelligent. No sound came to me in
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 1: that dark place. For all I knew the police might
• 2:17:09
  Speaker 1: be searching the house, and if they did, they would
• 2:17:12
  Speaker 1: want to know what was behind this door. I tried
• 2:17:15
  Speaker 1: to possess my soul in patience and to forget how
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 1: hungry I was. Then I took a more cheerful view.
• 2:17:23
  Speaker 1: The old gentleman could scarcely refuse me a meal, and
• 2:17:26
  Speaker 1: I fell to reconstructing my breakfast. Bacon and eggs would
• 2:17:30
  Speaker 1: content me, but I wanted the better part of a
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 1: flitch of bacon and half a hundred eggs. And then,
• 2:17:37
  Speaker 1: while my mouth was watering in anticipation, there was a
• 2:17:40
  Speaker 1: click and the door stood open. I merged into the
• 2:17:44
  Speaker 1: sunlight to find the master of the house sitting in
• 2:17:47
  Speaker 1: a deep arm chair in the room he called his study,
• 2:17:50
  Speaker 1: and regarding me with curious eyes. Have they gone? I asked,
• 2:17:55
  Speaker 1: they have gone? I convinced them that you would cross
• 2:17:59
  Speaker 1: the hill. I do not choose that the police should
• 2:18:02
  Speaker 1: come between me and one whom I am delighted to honor.
• 2:18:06
  Speaker 1: This is a lucky morning for you, mister Richard Hannay.
• 2:18:10
  Speaker 1: As he spoke, his eyelids seemed to tremble and to
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 1: fall a little over his keen gray eyes. In a flash,
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 1: the phrase of scudders came back to me when he
• 2:18:21
  Speaker 1: described the man he most dreaded in the world. He
• 2:18:24
  Speaker 1: had said that he could hood his eyes like a hawk.
• 2:18:29
  Speaker 1: Then I saw that I had walked straight into the
• 2:18:32
  Speaker 1: enemy's headquarters. My first impulse was to throttle the old
• 2:18:36
  Speaker 1: ruffian and make for the open air. He seemed to
• 2:18:40
  Speaker 1: anticipate my intention, for he smiled gently and nodded to
• 2:18:43
  Speaker 1: the door behind me. I turned and saw two men
• 2:18:47
  Speaker 1: servants who had me covered with pistols. He knew my name,
• 2:18:52
  Speaker 1: and he had never seen me before, And as the
• 2:18:55
  Speaker 1: reflection darted across my mind, I saw a slender chance.
• 2:19:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know what you mean, I said, roughly. And
• 2:19:03
  Speaker 1: who are you calling? Richard Hanny? My name's Ainslie, so
• 2:19:07
  Speaker 1: he said, smiling. But of course you have others. We
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 1: won't quarrel about a name. I was pulling myself together now,
• 2:19:17
  Speaker 1: and I reflected that my garb, lacking coat and waistcoat
• 2:19:20
  Speaker 1: and collar, would at any rate not betray me. I
• 2:19:24
  Speaker 1: put on my surliest face and shrugged my shoulders. I
• 2:19:28
  Speaker 1: suppose you're going to give me up after all, and
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 1: I call it a damned dirty trick. My god, I
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 1: wish I had never seen that cursed motor car. Here's
• 2:19:36
  Speaker 1: the money, and be damned to you, and I flung
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 1: four sovereigns on the table. He opened his eyes a little.
• 2:19:43
  Speaker 1: Oh no, I shall not give you up, my friends,
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 1: and I will have a little private settlement with you.
• 2:19:50
  Speaker 1: That is all. You know a little too much, mister hannay,
• 2:19:55
  Speaker 1: you are a clever actor, but not quite clever enough.
• 2:20:00
  Speaker 1: He spoke with assurance, but I could see the dawning
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 1: of a doubt in his mind. Oh, for God's sake,
• 2:20:07
  Speaker 1: stop jawing, I cried. Everything's against me. I haven't had
• 2:20:11
  Speaker 1: a bit of luck since I came ashore at Leith.
• 2:20:14
  Speaker 1: For what's the harm in a poor devil with an
• 2:20:16
  Speaker 1: empty stomach picking up some money he finds in a
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 1: bust up motor car. That's all I done. And for
• 2:20:21
  Speaker 1: that I've been chivied for two days by these blasted
• 2:20:24
  Speaker 1: bobbies over these blasted hills. I tell you, I'm fair
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 1: sick of it. You can do what you like. Old
• 2:20:31
  Speaker 1: boy ned Ainsley's got no fight left in him. I
• 2:20:35
  Speaker 1: could see that the doubt was gaining. Will you oblige
• 2:20:39
  Speaker 1: me with the story of your recent doings, he asked.
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 1: I can't guv'nor, I said, in a real beggar's whine.
• 2:20:47
  Speaker 1: I've not had a bite to eat for two days.
• 2:20:50
  Speaker 1: Give me a mouthful of food and then you'll hear
• 2:20:53
  Speaker 1: God's truth. I must have showed my hunger in my face,
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 1: for he signaled to one of the men in the doorway,
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 1: A bit of cold pie was brought and a glass
• 2:21:02
  Speaker 1: of beer, and I wolfed them down like a pig,
• 2:21:06
  Speaker 1: or rather like ned Ainslie, for I was keeping up
• 2:21:09
  Speaker 1: my character. In the middle of my meal. He spoke
• 2:21:12
  Speaker 1: suddenly to me in German, but I turned on him
• 2:21:14
  Speaker 1: a face as blank as a stone wall. Then I
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 1: told him my story, how I had come off an
• 2:21:20
  Speaker 1: archangel ship at Leith a week ago and was making
• 2:21:23
  Speaker 1: my way overland to my brother at Wigton. I'd run
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 1: short of cash, I hinted vaguely at a spree, and
• 2:21:30
  Speaker 1: I was pretty well on my uppers when I had
• 2:21:32
  Speaker 1: come on a hole in a hedge, and looking through,
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 1: had seen a big motor car lying in a burn.
• 2:21:38
  Speaker 1: I'd poked about to see what was happening and had
• 2:21:41
  Speaker 1: found three sovereigns lying on the seat and one on
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: the floor. There was nobody there or any sign of
• 2:21:47
  Speaker 1: an owner, so I had pocketed the cash. But somehow
• 2:21:51
  Speaker 1: the law had got after me. When I had tried
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 1: to change a sovereign in a baker's shop, the woman
• 2:21:56
  Speaker 1: had cried on the police, and a little later, when
• 2:21:59
  Speaker 1: I was washing my face in a burn, I had
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 1: been nearly gripped and had only got away by leaving
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 1: my coat and waistcoat behind me. They can have the
• 2:22:08
  Speaker 1: money back. I cried for a fat lot of good.
• 2:22:11
  Speaker 1: It's done me. Those perishes are all down on a
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 1: poor man. Now, if it had been you, Governor, that
• 2:22:17
  Speaker 1: had found the quids, nobody would have troubled you. You're
• 2:22:22
  Speaker 1: a good liar. Hannay, he said, I flew into a rage.
• 2:22:27
  Speaker 1: Stop falling, damn you. I'd tell you my name's Ainslie,
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 1: and I never heard of any one called Hanni in
• 2:22:33
  Speaker 1: my born days. I'd sooner have the police than you,
• 2:22:36
  Speaker 1: with your hannais and your monkey face pistol tricks. No, Governor,
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 1: I don't mean that I'm much obliged for you for
• 2:22:43
  Speaker 1: the grub. I'll thank you to let me go. Now
• 2:22:46
  Speaker 1: the coast's clear. It was obvious that he was badly puzzled.
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 1: You see, he had never seen me, and my appearance
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 1: must have altered considerably from my photographs if he had
• 2:22:57
  Speaker 1: got one of them. I was pretty smart and well
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 1: dressed in London, and now I was a regular tramp.
• 2:23:05
  Speaker 1: I do not propose to let you go. If you
• 2:23:09
  Speaker 1: are what you say you are, you will soon have
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 1: a chance of clearing yourself if you are what I
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 1: believe you are, I do not think you will see
• 2:23:17
  Speaker 1: the light much longer. He rang a bell, and a
• 2:23:21
  Speaker 1: third servant appeared from the verandah, I want the lancaster.
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 1: In five minutes, he said, There will be three to luncheon.
• 2:23:30
  Speaker 1: Then he looked steadily at me, And that was the
• 2:23:33
  Speaker 1: hardest ordeal of all. There was something weird and devilish
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 1: in those eyes, cold, malignant, unearthly, and most hellishly clever.
• 2:23:44
  Speaker 1: They fascinated me like the bright eyes of a snake.
• 2:23:48
  Speaker 1: I had a strong impulse to throw myself in his
• 2:23:51
  Speaker 1: mercy and offer to join his side. And if you
• 2:23:54
  Speaker 1: consider the way I felt about the whole thing, you
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 1: will see that that impulse must have been purely physical
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 1: weakness of a brain mesmerized and mastered by a stronger spirit.
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: But I managed to stick it out, and even to grin.
• 2:24:08
  Speaker 1: You'll know me next time, Guvnor, I said Karl. He
• 2:24:12
  Speaker 1: said in German to one of the men in the doorway,
• 2:24:15
  Speaker 1: you will put this fellow in the storeroom till I return,
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 1: and you will be answerable to me for his keeping.
• 2:24:22
  Speaker 1: I was marched out of the room with a pistol
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 1: at each ear, The storeroom was a damp chamber in
• 2:24:29
  Speaker 1: what had been the old farmhouse. There was no carpet
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 1: on the uneven floor, and nothing to sit down on
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 1: but a school form. It was black as pitch, for
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 1: the windows were heavily shuttered. I made out by groping
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 1: that the walls were lined with boxes and barrels and
• 2:24:46
  Speaker 1: sacks of some heavy stuff. The whole place smelled of
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 1: mold and disuse. My jailers turned the key in the door,
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 1: and I could hear them shifting their feet as they
• 2:24:56
  Speaker 1: stood on guard outside. I sat down in the chilly
• 2:25:00
  Speaker 1: darkness in a very miserable frame of mind. The old
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 1: boy had gone off in a motor to collect the
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 1: two Ruffians who had interviewed me yesterday. Now they had
• 2:25:10
  Speaker 1: seen me as the roadman, and they would remember me,
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 1: for I was in the same rig. What was a
• 2:25:16
  Speaker 1: roadman doing twenty miles from his beat pursued by the police.
• 2:25:21
  Speaker 1: A question or two would put them on the track.
• 2:25:24
  Speaker 1: Probably they had seen mister Turnbull, probably Marmie too. Most
• 2:25:29
  Speaker 1: likely they could link me up with Sir Harry, and
• 2:25:32
  Speaker 1: then the whole thing would be crystal clear. What chance
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 1: had I in this moorland house with three desperadoes and
• 2:25:40
  Speaker 1: their armed servants. I began to think wistfully of the
• 2:25:44
  Speaker 1: police now plodding over the hills after my wraith. They
• 2:25:48
  Speaker 1: at any rate, were fellow countrymen and honest men, and
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 1: their tender mercies would be kinder than these ghoulish aliens.
• 2:25:57
  Speaker 1: That they wouldn't have listened to me. That old devil
• 2:26:00
  Speaker 1: Or with the eyelids had not taken long to get
• 2:26:02
  Speaker 1: rid of them. I thought he probably had some kind
• 2:26:06
  Speaker 1: of graft with the constablary. Most likely he had letters
• 2:26:09
  Speaker 1: from cabinet ministers saying he was to be given every
• 2:26:12
  Speaker 1: facility for plotting against Britain. That was the sort of
• 2:26:16
  Speaker 1: owlish way we run our politics in the old Country.
• 2:26:21
  Speaker 1: Three would be back for lunch, so I hadn't got
• 2:26:23
  Speaker 1: more than a couple of hours to wait. It was
• 2:26:26
  Speaker 1: simply waiting on destruction, for I could see no way
• 2:26:29
  Speaker 1: out of this mess. I wished that I had Scudder's courage,
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 1: for I am free to confess I didn't feel any
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 1: great fortitude. The only thing that kept me going was
• 2:26:41
  Speaker 1: that I was pretty furious. It made me boil with
• 2:26:44
  Speaker 1: rage to think of those three spies getting the pull
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 1: on me like this, I hope that in any rate
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 1: I might be able to twist one of their necks
• 2:26:53
  Speaker 1: before they downed me. The more I thought of it,
• 2:26:56
  Speaker 1: the angrier I grew, and I had to get up
• 2:26:59
  Speaker 1: and move about room. I tried the shutters, but they
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 1: were the kind that lock with a key, and I
• 2:27:05
  Speaker 1: couldn't move them. From the outside came the faint clucking
• 2:27:09
  Speaker 1: of hens in the warm sun. Then I groped among
• 2:27:12
  Speaker 1: the sacks and boxes. I couldn't open the latter, and
• 2:27:15
  Speaker 1: the sack seemed to be full of things like dog
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 1: biscuits that smelled of cinnamon. But as I circumnavigated the room,
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 1: I found a handle in the wall which seemed worth investigating.
• 2:27:26
  Speaker 1: It was the door of a wall cupboard, what they
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 1: call a press in Scotland, and it was locked. I
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 1: shook it, and it seemed rather flimsy. For want of
• 2:27:37
  Speaker 1: something better to do, I put out my strength on
• 2:27:39
  Speaker 1: that door, getting some purchase on the handle by looping
• 2:27:42
  Speaker 1: my braces round it. Presently, the thing gave with a crash,
• 2:27:47
  Speaker 1: which I thought would bring in my warders to inquire.
• 2:27:50
  Speaker 1: I waited for a bit and then started to explore
• 2:27:53
  Speaker 1: the cupboard shelves. There was a multitude of queer things there.
• 2:27:58
  Speaker 1: I found an odd vest or two in my trousers
• 2:28:01
  Speaker 1: pocket and struck a light. It went out in a second,
• 2:28:05
  Speaker 1: but it showed me one thing. There was a little
• 2:28:08
  Speaker 1: stock of electric torches on one shelf. I picked one
• 2:28:12
  Speaker 1: up and found it was in working order. With the
• 2:28:15
  Speaker 1: torch to help me, I investigated further. There were bottles
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 1: and cases of queer smelling stuffs, chemicals, no doubt for experiments,
• 2:28:24
  Speaker 1: and there were coils of fine copper wire, and yanks
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 1: and yanks of a thin oiled silk. There was a
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 1: box of detonators and a lot of cord for fuses.
• 2:28:34
  Speaker 1: Then away at the back of a shelf, I found
• 2:28:37
  Speaker 1: a stout brown cardboard box, and inside it a wooden case.
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 1: I managed to wrench it open, and within lay half
• 2:28:46
  Speaker 1: a dozen little gray bricks, each a couple of inches square.
• 2:28:50
  Speaker 1: I took one up and found that it crumbled easily
• 2:28:53
  Speaker 1: in my hand. Then I smelled it and put my
• 2:28:56
  Speaker 1: tongue to it. After that I sat down to think
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 1: I hadn't been a mining engineer for nothing, and I
• 2:29:04
  Speaker 1: knew lent a night when I saw it. With one
• 2:29:07
  Speaker 1: of these bricks, I could blow the house to Smithereens.
• 2:29:11
  Speaker 1: I'd used the stuff in Rhodesia and knew its power.
• 2:29:15
  Speaker 1: But the trouble was that my knowledge wasn't exact. I
• 2:29:18
  Speaker 1: had forgotten the proper charge and the right way of
• 2:29:21
  Speaker 1: preparing it, and I wasn't sure about the timing. I
• 2:29:24
  Speaker 1: had only a vague notion too as to its power,
• 2:29:27
  Speaker 1: for though I had used it, I had not handled
• 2:29:30
  Speaker 1: it with my own fingers. But it was a chance,
• 2:29:33
  Speaker 1: the only possible chance. It was a mighty risk, but
• 2:29:36
  Speaker 1: against it was an absolute black certainty. If I used it.
• 2:29:41
  Speaker 1: The odds were, as I reckoned, about five to one
• 2:29:44
  Speaker 1: in favor of my blowing myself into the tree tops.
• 2:29:47
  Speaker 1: But if I didn't, I should be very likely to
• 2:29:50
  Speaker 1: be occupying a six foot hole in the garden by
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 1: the evening. That was the way I had to look
• 2:29:55
  Speaker 1: at it. The prospect was pretty dark either way, but
• 2:29:59
  Speaker 1: any how there was a chance, both for myself and
• 2:30:03
  Speaker 1: for my country. The remembrance of Little Scudder decided me.
• 2:30:08
  Speaker 1: It was about the beastliest moment of my life, for
• 2:30:11
  Speaker 1: I am no good at these cold blooded resolutions. Still,
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 1: I managed to rake up the pluck to set my
• 2:30:18
  Speaker 1: teeth and choke back the horrid doubts that flooded in
• 2:30:21
  Speaker 1: on me. I simply shut off my mind and pretended
• 2:30:25
  Speaker 1: I was doing an experiment as simple as Guy Fawke's fireworks.
• 2:30:30
  Speaker 1: I got a detonator and fixed it to a couple
• 2:30:32
  Speaker 1: of feet of fuse. Then I took a quarter of
• 2:30:35
  Speaker 1: a lentennite brick and buried it near the door below
• 2:30:38
  Speaker 1: one of the sacks in a crack of the floor,
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 1: fixing the detonator in it. For all I knew half
• 2:30:44
  Speaker 1: of these boxes might be dynamite. If the cupboard held
• 2:30:48
  Speaker 1: such deadly explosives, why not the boxes. In that case
• 2:30:52
  Speaker 1: there would be a glorious skyward journey for me and
• 2:30:55
  Speaker 1: the German servants, and about an acre of the surrounding country.
• 2:30:59
  Speaker 1: There was also so the risk that the detonation might
• 2:31:01
  Speaker 1: set off the other bricks in the cupboard, For I
• 2:31:04
  Speaker 1: had forgotten most that I knew about lent to Night.
• 2:31:07
  Speaker 1: But it didn't do to begin thinking about the possibilities.
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 1: The odds were horrible, but I had to take them.
• 2:31:14
  Speaker 1: I ensconced myself just below the sill of the window
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 1: and lit the fuse. Then I waited for a moment
• 2:31:20
  Speaker 1: or two There was dead silence, only a shuffle of
• 2:31:25
  Speaker 1: heavy boots in the passage and the peaceful cluck of
• 2:31:28
  Speaker 1: hens from the warm out of doors. I commended my
• 2:31:31
  Speaker 1: soul to my maker and wondered where I would be.
• 2:31:34
  Speaker 1: In five seconds, a great wave of heat seemed to
• 2:31:39
  Speaker 1: surge upwards from the floor and hang for a blistering
• 2:31:42
  Speaker 1: instant in the air. Then the wall opposite me flashed
• 2:31:46
  Speaker 1: into a gold and yellow and dissolved with a rending
• 2:31:50
  Speaker 1: thunder that hammered my brain into a pulp. Something dropped
• 2:31:54
  Speaker 1: on me, catching the point of my left shoulder, and
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 1: then I became unconscious. My stupor can scarcely have lasted
• 2:32:04
  Speaker 1: beyond a few seconds. I felt myself being choked by
• 2:32:07
  Speaker 1: thick yellow fumes and struggled out of the debris to
• 2:32:11
  Speaker 1: my feet. Somewhere behind me, I felt fresh air. The
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 1: jambs of the window had fallen, and through the ragged
• 2:32:18
  Speaker 1: rent the smoke was pouring out to the summer noon.
• 2:32:22
  Speaker 1: I stepped over the broken lintel and found myself standing
• 2:32:25
  Speaker 1: in a yard in a dense and acrid fog. I
• 2:32:29
  Speaker 1: felt very sick and ill, but I could move my limbs,
• 2:32:33
  Speaker 1: and I staggered blindly forward away from the house. A
• 2:32:38
  Speaker 1: small mill laid ran in a wooden aqueduct at the
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 1: other side of the yard, and into this I fell.
• 2:32:45
  Speaker 1: The cool water revived me, and I had just enough
• 2:32:48
  Speaker 1: wits left to think of escape. I squirmed up the
• 2:32:52
  Speaker 1: laid among the slippery green slime till I reached the
• 2:32:55
  Speaker 1: mill wheel. Then I rinnled through the axle hole into
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 1: the old mill and tumbled on to a bed of chaff.
• 2:33:03
  Speaker 1: A nail caught the seat of my trousers, and I
• 2:33:06
  Speaker 1: left a wisp of heather mixture behind me. The mill
• 2:33:10
  Speaker 1: had been long out of use, the ladders were rotten
• 2:33:13
  Speaker 1: with age, and in the loft the rats had gnawed
• 2:33:16
  Speaker 1: great holes in the floor. Nausea shook me, and a
• 2:33:21
  Speaker 1: wheel in my head kept turning, while my left shoulder
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 1: and arm seemed to be stricken with the palsy. I
• 2:33:28
  Speaker 1: looked out of the window and saw a fog still
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 1: hanging over the house and smoke escaping from an upper window.
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 1: Please God, I had set the place on fire, for
• 2:33:38
  Speaker 1: I could hear the confused cries coming from the other side.
• 2:33:42
  Speaker 1: But I had no time to linger. Since this mill
• 2:33:44
  Speaker 1: was obviously a bad hiding place. Any one looking for
• 2:33:48
  Speaker 1: me would naturally follow the lad and I made certain
• 2:33:51
  Speaker 1: the search would begin as soon as they found that
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 1: my body was not in the store room. From another window,
• 2:33:57
  Speaker 1: I saw that on the far side of the mill
• 2:34:00
  Speaker 1: stood an old stone dove cot. If I could get
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 1: there without leaving tracks, I might find a hiding place
• 2:34:07
  Speaker 1: for I argued that my enemies, if they thought I
• 2:34:09
  Speaker 1: could move, would conclude that I had made for open
• 2:34:12
  Speaker 1: country and would go seeking me on the moor. I
• 2:34:16
  Speaker 1: crawled down the broken ladder, scattering chaff behind me to
• 2:34:21
  Speaker 1: cover my footsteps. I did the same on the mill
• 2:34:24
  Speaker 1: floor and on the threshold, where the door hung on
• 2:34:27
  Speaker 1: broken hinges. Peeping out, I saw that between me and
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 1: the dovecot was a piece of bare cobbled ground where
• 2:34:35
  Speaker 1: no footmarks would show. Also, it was mercifully hid by
• 2:34:39
  Speaker 1: the mill buildings from any view from the house. I
• 2:34:42
  Speaker 1: slipped across the space, got into the back of the dovecot,
• 2:34:46
  Speaker 1: and prospected a way of ascent. That was one of
• 2:34:49
  Speaker 1: the hardest jobs I ever took. On my shoulder and
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 1: arm ached like hell, and I was so sick and
• 2:34:57
  Speaker 1: giddy that I was always on the verge of falling.
• 2:35:00
  Speaker 1: But I managed it somehow, by the use of outjutting
• 2:35:03
  Speaker 1: stones and gaps in the masonry, and a tough ivy route,
• 2:35:07
  Speaker 1: I got to the top. In the end there was
• 2:35:10
  Speaker 1: a little parapet, behind which I found a space to
• 2:35:13
  Speaker 1: lie down. Then I proceeded to go into an old
• 2:35:17
  Speaker 1: fashioned swoon. I woke with a burning head and the
• 2:35:22
  Speaker 1: sun glaring in my face. For a long time I
• 2:35:25
  Speaker 1: lay motionless, for these horrible fumes seemed to have loosened
• 2:35:29
  Speaker 1: my joints and dulled my brain. Sounds came to me
• 2:35:33
  Speaker 1: from the house men speaking throatily, and the throbbing of
• 2:35:37
  Speaker 1: a stationary car. There was a little gap in the parapet,
• 2:35:40
  Speaker 1: to which I wriggled, and from which I had some
• 2:35:42
  Speaker 1: sort of prospect of the yard. I saw figures come out,
• 2:35:47
  Speaker 1: a servant with his head bound up, then a younger
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 1: man in knickerbockers. They were looking for something a move
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 1: towards the mill. Then one of them caught sight of
• 2:35:57
  Speaker 1: the wisp of cloth on the nail and cried out
• 2:36:00
  Speaker 1: to the other. They both went back to the house
• 2:36:03
  Speaker 1: and brought two more to look at it. I saw
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 1: the rotund figure of my late captor, and thought I
• 2:36:09
  Speaker 1: made out the man with the lisp. I noticed that
• 2:36:12
  Speaker 1: all had pistols. For half an hour they ransacked the mill.
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 1: I could hear them kicking over the barrels and pulling
• 2:36:20
  Speaker 1: up the rotten planking. Then they came outside and stood
• 2:36:24
  Speaker 1: just below the dovecot, arguing fiercely. The servant with the
• 2:36:29
  Speaker 1: bandage was being soundly rated. I heard them fiddling with
• 2:36:33
  Speaker 1: the door of the dovecot, and for one horrid moment
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 1: I thought they were coming up. Then they thought better
• 2:36:39
  Speaker 1: of it and went back to the house. All that long,
• 2:36:43
  Speaker 1: blistering afternoon I lay baking on the rooftop. First was
• 2:36:48
  Speaker 1: my chief torment. My tongue was like a stick, and
• 2:36:52
  Speaker 1: to make it worse, I could hear the cool drip
• 2:36:55
  Speaker 1: of water from the mill laid. I watched the course
• 2:36:59
  Speaker 1: of the little street as it came in from the moor,
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 1: and my fancy followed it to the top of the glen,
• 2:37:04
  Speaker 1: where it must issue from an icy fountain fringed with
• 2:37:08
  Speaker 1: cool ferns and mosses. I would have given a thousand
• 2:37:12
  Speaker 1: pounds to plunge my face into that. I had a
• 2:37:16
  Speaker 1: fine prospect of the whole ring of moorland. I saw
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 1: the car speed away with two occupants and a man
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 1: on a hill pony riding east. I judged they were
• 2:37:26
  Speaker 1: looking for me, and I wished them joy of their quest.
• 2:37:30
  Speaker 1: But I saw something else more interesting. The house stood
• 2:37:34
  Speaker 1: almost on the summit of a swale of moorland which
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 1: crowned a sort of plateau, and there was no higher
• 2:37:40
  Speaker 1: point nearer than the big hills six miles off. The
• 2:37:44
  Speaker 1: actual summit, as I have mentioned, was a biggish clump
• 2:37:47
  Speaker 1: of trees firs, mostly with a few ashes and beeches.
• 2:37:52
  Speaker 1: On the dove cote, I was almost on a level
• 2:37:54
  Speaker 1: with the tree tops and could see what lay beyond.
• 2:37:57
  Speaker 1: The wood was not solid, but only ring, and inside
• 2:38:01
  Speaker 1: was an oval of green turf for all the world
• 2:38:04
  Speaker 1: like a big cricket field. I didn't take long to
• 2:38:08
  Speaker 1: guess what it was. It was an aerodrome, and a
• 2:38:11
  Speaker 1: secret one. The place had been most cunningly chosen, for
• 2:38:16
  Speaker 1: suppose anyone were watching an airplane descending here, he would
• 2:38:19
  Speaker 1: think it had gone over the hills beyond the trees.
• 2:38:23
  Speaker 1: As the place was on the top of a rise
• 2:38:25
  Speaker 1: in the midst of a big amphitheater, any observer from
• 2:38:28
  Speaker 1: any direction would conclude it had passed out of view
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 1: behind the hill. Only a man very close at hand
• 2:38:35
  Speaker 1: would realize that the aeroplane had not gone over, but
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 1: had descended in the midst of the wood. An observer
• 2:38:42
  Speaker 1: with a telescope on one of the higher hills might
• 2:38:45
  Speaker 1: have discovered the truth, but only herds went there, and
• 2:38:48
  Speaker 1: herds do not carry spyglasses. When I looked from the dovecot,
• 2:38:53
  Speaker 1: I could see far away a blue line which I
• 2:38:56
  Speaker 1: knew was the sea, and I grew furious to think
• 2:38:59
  Speaker 1: that our enemies had this secret conning tower to rake
• 2:39:03
  Speaker 1: our waterways. Then I reflected that if that aeroplane came back,
• 2:39:07
  Speaker 1: the chances were ten to one that I would be discovered.
• 2:39:11
  Speaker 1: So through the afternoon I lay and prayed for the
• 2:39:14
  Speaker 1: coming of darkness, and glad I was when the sun
• 2:39:18
  Speaker 1: went down over the big western hills and the twilight
• 2:39:21
  Speaker 1: haze crept over the moor. The aeroplane was late, the
• 2:39:26
  Speaker 1: gloaming was far advanced. When I heard the beat of
• 2:39:29
  Speaker 1: wings and saw it volplaning down toward its home in
• 2:39:32
  Speaker 1: the wood. Lights twinkled for a bit, and there was
• 2:39:36
  Speaker 1: much coming and going from the house. Then the dark
• 2:39:39
  Speaker 1: fell and silence. Thank god, it was a black night.
• 2:39:45
  Speaker 1: The moon was well on its last quarter and would
• 2:39:48
  Speaker 1: not rise till late. My thirst was too great to
• 2:39:52
  Speaker 1: allow me to tarry, so about nine o'clock, so far
• 2:39:56
  Speaker 1: as I could judge, I started to descend. It wasn't easy,
• 2:40:01
  Speaker 1: and half way down I heard the back door of
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 1: the house open and saw the gleam of a lantern
• 2:40:06
  Speaker 1: against the mill wall. For some agonizing minutes I hung
• 2:40:10
  Speaker 1: by the ivy and prayed that whatever it was would
• 2:40:14
  Speaker 1: not come round by the dovecote. Then the light disappeared,
• 2:40:18
  Speaker 1: and I dropped as softly as I could on to
• 2:40:21
  Speaker 1: the hard soil of the yard. I crawled on my
• 2:40:24
  Speaker 1: belly in the lee of a stone dike till I
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 1: reached the fringe of trees which surrounded the house. If
• 2:40:31
  Speaker 1: I had known how to do it, I would have
• 2:40:33
  Speaker 1: tried to put that aeroplane out of action, but I
• 2:40:36
  Speaker 1: realized that any attempt would probably be futile. I was
• 2:40:40
  Speaker 1: pretty certain that there would be some kind of defense
• 2:40:43
  Speaker 1: round the house, so I went through the woods on
• 2:40:45
  Speaker 1: hands and knees, feeling carefully every inch before me. It
• 2:40:50
  Speaker 1: was as well, for presently I came on a wire
• 2:40:54
  Speaker 1: about two feet from the ground. If I had tripped
• 2:40:57
  Speaker 1: over that, it would doubtless have wrung some in the house,
• 2:41:01
  Speaker 1: and I would have been captured. A hundred yards further on,
• 2:41:05
  Speaker 1: I found another wire, cunningly placed on the edge of
• 2:41:08
  Speaker 1: a small stream. Beyond that lay the more, and in
• 2:41:13
  Speaker 1: five minutes I was deep in bracken and heather. Soon
• 2:41:17
  Speaker 1: I was round the shoulder of the rise. In the
• 2:41:19
  Speaker 1: little glen from which the mill laid flowed. Ten minutes
• 2:41:23
  Speaker 1: later my face was deep in the spring, and I
• 2:41:27
  Speaker 1: was soaking down pints of the blessed water. But I
• 2:41:31
  Speaker 1: did not stop till I had put half a dozen
• 2:41:33
  Speaker 1: miles between me and that a cursed dwelling. End of
• 2:41:40
  Speaker 1: chapter six, Chapter seven, The dry fly Fisherman. I sat
• 2:41:47
  Speaker 1: down on a hilltop and took stock of my position.
• 2:41:50
  Speaker 1: I wasn't feeling very happy, for my natural thankfulness at
• 2:41:54
  Speaker 1: my escape was clouded by my severe bodily discomfort. Those
• 2:42:00
  Speaker 1: night fumes had fairly poisoned me, and the baking hours
• 2:42:04
  Speaker 1: on the dove cart hadn't helped matters. I had a
• 2:42:07
  Speaker 1: crushing headache and felt as sick as a cat. Also,
• 2:42:12
  Speaker 1: my shoulder was in a bad way. At first I
• 2:42:15
  Speaker 1: thought it was only a bruise, but it seemed to
• 2:42:18
  Speaker 1: be swelling, and I had no use of my left arm.
• 2:42:22
  Speaker 1: My plan was to seek mister Turnbull's cottage, recover my
• 2:42:26
  Speaker 1: garments and especially Scudder's notebook, and then make for the
• 2:42:30
  Speaker 1: main line and get back to the south. It seemed
• 2:42:33
  Speaker 1: to me that the sooner I got in touch with
• 2:42:35
  Speaker 1: the Foreign Office man, Sir Walter Bullivant, the better. I
• 2:42:40
  Speaker 1: didn't see how I could get more proof than I'd
• 2:42:43
  Speaker 1: got already. He must just take or leave my story,
• 2:42:47
  Speaker 1: and anyway, with him I would be in better hands
• 2:42:50
  Speaker 1: than those devilish Germans. I had begun to feel quite
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 1: kindly towards the British police. It was a wonderful starry
• 2:43:00
  Speaker 1: and I had not much difficulty about the road. Sir
• 2:43:03
  Speaker 1: Harry's map had given me the lie of the land,
• 2:43:06
  Speaker 1: and all I had to do was to steer a
• 2:43:08
  Speaker 1: point or two west of southwest to come to the
• 2:43:11
  Speaker 1: stream where I had met the road man. In all
• 2:43:14
  Speaker 1: these travels, I never knew the names of the places,
• 2:43:18
  Speaker 1: but I believed this stream was no less than the
• 2:43:21
  Speaker 1: upper waters of the River Tweed. I calculated I must
• 2:43:25
  Speaker 1: be about eighteen miles distant, and that meant I could
• 2:43:29
  Speaker 1: not get there before morning, so I must lie up
• 2:43:32
  Speaker 1: a day somewhere, for I was too outrageous a figure
• 2:43:36
  Speaker 1: to be seen in the sunlight. I had neither coat, waistcoat, collar,
• 2:43:41
  Speaker 1: nor hat. My trousers were badly torn, and my face
• 2:43:45
  Speaker 1: and hands were black with the explosion. I dare say
• 2:43:48
  Speaker 1: I had other beauties, for my eyes felt as if
• 2:43:51
  Speaker 1: they were furiously bloodshot. Altogether, I was no spectacle for
• 2:43:57
  Speaker 1: god fearing citizens to see. On a high road. Very
• 2:44:01
  Speaker 1: soon after daybreak, I made an attempt to clean myself
• 2:44:04
  Speaker 1: in a hill burn, and then approached a herd's cottage,
• 2:44:08
  Speaker 1: for I was feeling the need of food. The herd
• 2:44:11
  Speaker 1: was away from home, and his wife was alone, with
• 2:44:14
  Speaker 1: no neighbor for five miles. She was a decent old body,
• 2:44:18
  Speaker 1: and a plucky one, for though she got a fright
• 2:44:20
  Speaker 1: when she saw me, she had an axe handy and
• 2:44:23
  Speaker 1: would have used it on any evildoer. I told her
• 2:44:27
  Speaker 1: that I had had a fall. I didn't say how,
• 2:44:30
  Speaker 1: and she saw were my looks that I was pretty sick.
• 2:44:34
  Speaker 1: Like a true Samaritan, She asked no questions, but gave
• 2:44:37
  Speaker 1: me a bowl of milk with a dash of whisky
• 2:44:40
  Speaker 1: in it and let me sit for a little by
• 2:44:42
  Speaker 1: her kitchen fire. She would have bathed my shoulder, but
• 2:44:46
  Speaker 1: it ached so badly that I would not let her
• 2:44:48
  Speaker 1: touch it. I don't know what she took me for
• 2:44:52
  Speaker 1: a repenitent burglar, perhaps, but when I wanted to pay
• 2:44:55
  Speaker 1: her for the milk and tendered a sovereign, which was
• 2:44:58
  Speaker 1: the smallest coin I had, she shook her head and
• 2:45:01
  Speaker 1: said something about giving it to them as had a
• 2:45:04
  Speaker 1: right to it. At this I protested so strongly that
• 2:45:08
  Speaker 1: I think she believed me honest, for she took the
• 2:45:11
  Speaker 1: money and gave me a warm new plaid for it,
• 2:45:14
  Speaker 1: and an old hat of her man's. She showed me
• 2:45:17
  Speaker 1: how to wrap the plaid round my shoulders, And when
• 2:45:20
  Speaker 1: I left that cottage I was the living image of
• 2:45:22
  Speaker 1: the kind of scotsman you see in illustrations to Burne's poems.
• 2:45:27
  Speaker 1: But at any rate I was more or less clad.
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 1: It was as well, for the weather changed before midday
• 2:45:35
  Speaker 1: to a thick drizzle of rain. I found shelter below
• 2:45:39
  Speaker 1: an overhanging rock in the crook of a burn, where
• 2:45:42
  Speaker 1: a drift of dead brackens made a tolerable bed. There
• 2:45:46
  Speaker 1: I managed to sleep till nightfall, waking very cramped and wretched,
• 2:45:50
  Speaker 1: with my shoulder gnawing like a toothache. I ate the
• 2:45:54
  Speaker 1: oak cake and cheese the old wife had given me
• 2:45:57
  Speaker 1: and set out again. Just before the dark. I pass
• 2:46:02
  Speaker 1: over the miseries of that night. Among the wet hills.
• 2:46:06
  Speaker 1: There were no stars to steer by, and I had
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 1: to do the best I could from my memory of
• 2:46:11
  Speaker 1: the map. Twice I lost my way, and I had
• 2:46:15
  Speaker 1: some nasty falls into the peat bogs. I had only
• 2:46:18
  Speaker 1: about ten miles to go, as the crow flies, but
• 2:46:22
  Speaker 1: my mistakes made it nearer twenty. The last bit was
• 2:46:26
  Speaker 1: completed with set teeth and a very light and dizzy head.
• 2:46:31
  Speaker 1: But I managed it, and in the early dawn I
• 2:46:33
  Speaker 1: was knocking at mister Turnbull's door. The mists lay close
• 2:46:38
  Speaker 1: and thick, and from the cottage I could not see
• 2:46:41
  Speaker 1: the high road. Mister Turnbull himself opened to me, sober
• 2:46:45
  Speaker 1: and something more than sober. He was primly dressed in
• 2:46:49
  Speaker 1: an ancient but well tended suit of black. He had
• 2:46:53
  Speaker 1: been shaved, and not later than the night before. He
• 2:46:56
  Speaker 1: wore a linen collar, and in his left hand he
• 2:47:00
  Speaker 1: carried a pocket bible. At first he did not recognize me.
• 2:47:05
  Speaker 1: War Ye that comes stra vagan here on the Sabbath morning.
• 2:47:09
  Speaker 1: He asked, I had lost all counts of days, so
• 2:47:13
  Speaker 1: the Sabbath was the reason for his strange decorum. My
• 2:47:17
  Speaker 1: head was swimming so wildly that I could not frame
• 2:47:20
  Speaker 1: a coherent answer. But he recognized me and saw that
• 2:47:24
  Speaker 1: I was ill. Ha Ye got my specs, he asked.
• 2:47:30
  Speaker 1: I fetched them out of my trousers pocket and gave
• 2:47:32
  Speaker 1: him them. Ye'r kempher ye jacket and wistcoat, he said,
• 2:47:37
  Speaker 1: Come in by lorsh man yer terrible doony. The legs
• 2:47:42
  Speaker 1: hard up till I get ye tier chair. I perceived
• 2:47:46
  Speaker 1: I was in for a bout of malaria. I had
• 2:47:49
  Speaker 1: a good deal of fever in my bones, and the
• 2:47:51
  Speaker 1: wet night had brought it out, while my shoulder and
• 2:47:54
  Speaker 1: the effects of the fumes combined to make me feel
• 2:47:57
  Speaker 1: pretty bad. Before I knew, mister Turnbull was helping me
• 2:48:02
  Speaker 1: off with my clothes and putting me to bed in
• 2:48:04
  Speaker 1: one of the two cupboards that lined the kitchen walls.
• 2:48:08
  Speaker 1: He was a true friend in need, that old road man.
• 2:48:12
  Speaker 1: His wife was dead years ago, and since his daughter's marriage,
• 2:48:16
  Speaker 1: he lived alone for the better part of ten days.
• 2:48:20
  Speaker 1: He did all the rough nursing I needed. I simply
• 2:48:23
  Speaker 1: wanted to be left in peace while the fever took
• 2:48:27
  Speaker 1: its course. And when my skin was cool again, I
• 2:48:30
  Speaker 1: found that the bout had more or less cured my shoulder.
• 2:48:33
  Speaker 1: But it was a baddish go and though I was
• 2:48:37
  Speaker 1: out of bed in five days, it took me some
• 2:48:39
  Speaker 1: time to get my legs again. He went out each morning,
• 2:48:44
  Speaker 1: leaving me milk for the day and locking the door
• 2:48:46
  Speaker 1: behind him, and came in in the evening to sit
• 2:48:49
  Speaker 1: silent in the chimney corner. Not a soul came near
• 2:48:53
  Speaker 1: the place. When I was getting better, He never bothered
• 2:48:56
  Speaker 1: me with a question. Several times he fetched me two
• 2:49:00
  Speaker 1: days old Scotsman, and I noticed the interest in the
• 2:49:03
  Speaker 1: Portland place. Murder seemed to have died down. There was
• 2:49:07
  Speaker 1: no mention of it, and I could find very little
• 2:49:10
  Speaker 1: about anything except a thing called the General Assembly, some
• 2:49:14
  Speaker 1: ecclesiastical spury I gathered. One day. He produced my belt
• 2:49:19
  Speaker 1: from a lockfast draw. There's a terrible heat of sillerant,
• 2:49:24
  Speaker 1: he said, you'd better count it to see its are there.
• 2:49:28
  Speaker 1: He never even inquired my name. I asked him if
• 2:49:32
  Speaker 1: anybody had been around making inquiries subsequent to my spell
• 2:49:35
  Speaker 1: at the road making ay. There was a man in
• 2:49:38
  Speaker 1: a mortar car. He spade where he'd taken my place
• 2:49:43
  Speaker 1: that day, and I let on. I thocked him daft,
• 2:49:46
  Speaker 1: but he kept on at me, and signey mun be thinking, oh,
• 2:49:50
  Speaker 1: my good brother favored Chirtz. That wires lent me a hon.
• 2:49:55
  Speaker 1: He was a wlsh looking soul, and I could not
• 2:49:57
  Speaker 1: understand the half of his English top. I was getting
• 2:50:02
  Speaker 1: pretty restless those last days, and as soon as I
• 2:50:04
  Speaker 1: felt myself fit, I decided to be off. That was
• 2:50:08
  Speaker 1: not till the twelfth day of June, and as luck
• 2:50:11
  Speaker 1: would have it, a drover went past that morning taking
• 2:50:14
  Speaker 1: some cattle to Moffatt. He was a man named his Lop,
• 2:50:18
  Speaker 1: a friend of Turnbull's, and he came in to his
• 2:50:21
  Speaker 1: breakfast with us, and often to take me with him.
• 2:50:24
  Speaker 1: I made Turnbull except five pounds for my lodging, and
• 2:50:28
  Speaker 1: a hard job I had of it. There was never
• 2:50:31
  Speaker 1: a more independent being. He grew positively rude when I
• 2:50:35
  Speaker 1: pressed him, and shy and read and took the money
• 2:50:38
  Speaker 1: at last without a thank you. When I told him
• 2:50:41
  Speaker 1: how much I owed him, he grunted something about eh,
• 2:50:45
  Speaker 1: good turn deserve in another you would have thought from
• 2:50:49
  Speaker 1: our leave taking that we had parted in disgust. His
• 2:50:53
  Speaker 1: lop was a cheery soul who chattered all the way
• 2:50:56
  Speaker 1: over the pass and down the sunny vale of Annan.
• 2:50:59
  Speaker 1: I talked of Galloway markets and sheep prices, and he
• 2:51:02
  Speaker 1: made up his mind that I was a pack shepherd
• 2:51:04
  Speaker 1: from those parts. Whatever that may be. My plaid and
• 2:51:08
  Speaker 1: my old hat, as I have said, gave me a
• 2:51:11
  Speaker 1: fine theatrical Scots look. But driving cattle is a mortally
• 2:51:15
  Speaker 1: slow job, and we took the better part of the
• 2:51:18
  Speaker 1: day to cover a dozen miles. If I had not
• 2:51:21
  Speaker 1: had such an anxious heart, I would have enjoyed that time.
• 2:51:25
  Speaker 1: It was shining blue weather, with a constantly changing prospect
• 2:51:30
  Speaker 1: of brown hills and far green meadows, and a continual
• 2:51:34
  Speaker 1: spund of larks and curlews and falling streams. But I
• 2:51:39
  Speaker 1: had no mind for the summer, and little for his
• 2:51:42
  Speaker 1: lop's conversation. For as the fateful fifteenth of June grew near,
• 2:51:46
  Speaker 1: I was overweighted with the lifeless difficulties of my enterprise.
• 2:51:51
  Speaker 1: I got some dinner in a humble Moffett public house
• 2:51:54
  Speaker 1: and walked the two miles to the junction on the
• 2:51:56
  Speaker 1: main line. The night expressed for the South was not
• 2:52:00
  Speaker 1: due till midnight, and to fill up the time, I
• 2:52:03
  Speaker 1: went up on the hillside and fell asleep, for the
• 2:52:06
  Speaker 1: walk had tired me. I all but slept too long
• 2:52:10
  Speaker 1: and had to run to the station and catch the
• 2:52:12
  Speaker 1: train with two minutes to spare. The feel of the
• 2:52:16
  Speaker 1: hard third class cushions and the smell of stale tobacco
• 2:52:20
  Speaker 1: cheered me up wonderfully. At any rate, I felt now
• 2:52:24
  Speaker 1: that I was getting to grips with my job. I
• 2:52:27
  Speaker 1: was decanted at Crewe in the small hours and had
• 2:52:30
  Speaker 1: to wait till six to get a train for Birmingham.
• 2:52:34
  Speaker 1: In the afternoon, I got to reading and changed into
• 2:52:36
  Speaker 1: a local train which journeyed into the deeps of Berkshire.
• 2:52:41
  Speaker 1: Presently I was in a land of lush water meadows
• 2:52:43
  Speaker 1: and slow, reedy streams. About eight o'clock in the evening,
• 2:52:48
  Speaker 1: A weary and travel stained being across between a farm
• 2:52:52
  Speaker 1: laborer and a vet with a checkered blue and white
• 2:52:55
  Speaker 1: plaid over his arm, for I did not dare to
• 2:52:58
  Speaker 1: wear it. South of the border descended at the little
• 2:53:01
  Speaker 1: station of Airs tinswell. There were several people on the platform,
• 2:53:06
  Speaker 1: and I thought I had better wait to ask my
• 2:53:08
  Speaker 1: way till I was clear of the place. The road
• 2:53:11
  Speaker 1: led through a wood of great beeches and then into
• 2:53:14
  Speaker 1: a shallow valley with the green backs of downs peeping
• 2:53:17
  Speaker 1: over the distant trees. After Scotland, the air smelled heavy
• 2:53:22
  Speaker 1: and flat, but infinitely sweet, for the limes and chestnuts
• 2:53:27
  Speaker 1: and lilac bushes were domes of blossom. Presently I came
• 2:53:31
  Speaker 1: to a bridge, below which a clear, slow stream flowed
• 2:53:35
  Speaker 1: between snowy beds of water buttercups. A little above it
• 2:53:40
  Speaker 1: was a mill, and the lasher made a pleasant cool
• 2:53:43
  Speaker 1: sound in the scented dusk. Somehow the place soothed me
• 2:53:48
  Speaker 1: and put me at my ease. I felt a whistling
• 2:53:51
  Speaker 1: as I looked into the green depths, and the tune
• 2:53:54
  Speaker 1: which came to my lips was Annie Lorry. A fisherman
• 2:53:59
  Speaker 1: came up from the water side, and as he neared me,
• 2:54:03
  Speaker 1: he too began to whistle. The tune was infectious, for
• 2:54:07
  Speaker 1: he followed my suit. He was a huge man in
• 2:54:11
  Speaker 1: untidy old flannels and a wide brimmed hat, with a
• 2:54:14
  Speaker 1: canvas bag slung on his shoulder. He nodded to me,
• 2:54:18
  Speaker 1: and I thought I had never seen such a shrewder
• 2:54:21
  Speaker 1: or better tempered face. He leaned his delicate ten foot
• 2:54:26
  Speaker 1: split cane rod against the bridge and looked with me
• 2:54:29
  Speaker 1: at the water clear, isn't it? He said, pleasantly. I
• 2:54:35
  Speaker 1: back our kennet any day against the test. Look at
• 2:54:38
  Speaker 1: that big fellow, four pounds if he's an ounce. But
• 2:54:42
  Speaker 1: the evening rise is over and you can't tempt him.
• 2:54:46
  Speaker 1: I don't see him, said I Look there a yard
• 2:54:51
  Speaker 1: from the reeds, just above that sickle. I've got him. Now.
• 2:54:55
  Speaker 1: You might swear he was a black stone, so he said,
• 2:55:00
  Speaker 1: and whistled another bar of Annie Lorry Twisden's. The name,
• 2:55:04
  Speaker 1: isn't it, he said, over his shoulder, his eyes still
• 2:55:08
  Speaker 1: fixed on the stream. No, I said, I mean to say, yes,
• 2:55:14
  Speaker 1: I've forgotten all about my alias. It's a wise conspirator
• 2:55:18
  Speaker 1: that knows his own name, he observed, grinning broadly at
• 2:55:22
  Speaker 1: a moor hen that emerged from the bridge's shadow. I
• 2:55:26
  Speaker 1: stood up and looked at him, at his square jaw
• 2:55:30
  Speaker 1: and broad lined brow and the firm folds of cheek,
• 2:55:34
  Speaker 1: and began to think that here, at last was an
• 2:55:37
  Speaker 1: ally worth, having his whimsical blue eyes seemed to go
• 2:55:42
  Speaker 1: very deep. Suddenly he frowned. I call it disgraceful, he said,
• 2:55:48
  Speaker 1: raising his voice, disgraceful that an able bodied man like
• 2:55:51
  Speaker 1: you should dare to beg. You can get a meal
• 2:55:54
  Speaker 1: from my kitchen, but you'll get no money from me.
• 2:55:58
  Speaker 1: A dog cart was passing drive and by a young
• 2:56:00
  Speaker 1: man who raised his whip to salute the fisherman. When
• 2:56:04
  Speaker 1: he had gone, he picked up his rod. That's my house,
• 2:56:08
  Speaker 1: he said, pointing to a white gate a hundred yards on.
• 2:56:11
  Speaker 1: Wait five minutes, and then go round to the back door.
• 2:56:15
  Speaker 1: And with that he left me. I did as I
• 2:56:19
  Speaker 1: was bidden. I found a pretty cottage with a lawn
• 2:56:22
  Speaker 1: running down to the stream, and a perfect jungle of
• 2:56:26
  Speaker 1: goulder rose and lilac flanking the path. The back door
• 2:56:30
  Speaker 1: stood open, and a grave butler was awaiting me. Come
• 2:56:34
  Speaker 1: this way, sir, he said, and he led me along
• 2:56:37
  Speaker 1: a passage and up a back staircase to a pleasant
• 2:56:40
  Speaker 1: bedroom looking towards the river. There I found a complete
• 2:56:44
  Speaker 1: outfit laid out for me, dress clothes with all the fixings,
• 2:56:49
  Speaker 1: a brown flannel suit, shirts, collars, ties, shaving things and
• 2:56:54
  Speaker 1: hair brushes, even a pair of patent shoes. Sir Walter thought,
• 2:56:59
  Speaker 1: as how, mister Reday use things would fit you, Sir,
• 2:57:02
  Speaker 1: said the butler. He keeps some clothes here, for he
• 2:57:05
  Speaker 1: comes regular on the week ends. There's a bath room
• 2:57:09
  Speaker 1: next door, and half prepared a hot bath dinner in
• 2:57:13
  Speaker 1: half an hour. Sir, you're near the gong. The grave
• 2:57:17
  Speaker 1: being withdrew and I sat down in a chintz covered
• 2:57:21
  Speaker 1: easy chair and gaped. It was like a pantomime to
• 2:57:25
  Speaker 1: come suddenly out of beggardom into this orderly comfort. Obvious
• 2:57:30
  Speaker 1: Lisa Walter believed in me, though why he did I
• 2:57:33
  Speaker 1: could not guess. I looked at myself in the mirror
• 2:57:36
  Speaker 1: and saw a wild, haggard brown fellow with a fortnight's
• 2:57:40
  Speaker 1: ragged beard and dust in ears and eyes, collarless, vulgarly shirted,
• 2:57:47
  Speaker 1: with shapeless old tweed clothes and boots that had not
• 2:57:50
  Speaker 1: been cleaned for the better part of a month. I
• 2:57:54
  Speaker 1: made a fine tramp and a fair drover, And here
• 2:57:57
  Speaker 1: I was ushered by a prim butler into this temple
• 2:58:01
  Speaker 1: of gracious ease. And the best of it was that
• 2:58:05
  Speaker 1: they did not even know my name. I resolved not
• 2:58:09
  Speaker 1: to puzzle my head. But to take the gifts the
• 2:58:12
  Speaker 1: gods had provided, I shaved and bathed luxuriously, and got
• 2:58:17
  Speaker 1: into the dress clothes and clean, crackling shirt, which fitted
• 2:58:21
  Speaker 1: me not so badly. By the time I had finished,
• 2:58:24
  Speaker 1: the looking glass showed a not unpersonable young man, Sir
• 2:58:29
  Speaker 1: Walter awaited me in a dusky dining room, where a
• 2:58:33
  Speaker 1: little round table was lit with silver candles. The sight
• 2:58:37
  Speaker 1: of him, so respectable and established and secure, the embodiment
• 2:58:42
  Speaker 1: of law and government and all the conventions, took me
• 2:58:46
  Speaker 1: aback and made me feel an interloper. He couldn't know
• 2:58:50
  Speaker 1: the truth about me, or he wouldn't treat me like this.
• 2:58:54
  Speaker 1: I simply could not accept his hospitality on false pretenses.
• 2:58:59
  Speaker 1: I'm more obliged to you than I can say, but
• 2:59:02
  Speaker 1: I'm bound to make things clear, I said. I'm an
• 2:59:05
  Speaker 1: innocent man, but I'm wanted by the police. I've got
• 2:59:08
  Speaker 1: to tell you this, and I won't be surprised if
• 2:59:11
  Speaker 1: you kick me out. He smiled. That's all right, don't
• 2:59:15
  Speaker 1: let that interfere with your appetite. We can talk about
• 2:59:18
  Speaker 1: these things after dinner. I never ate a meal with
• 2:59:23
  Speaker 1: greater relish, for I had had nothing all day, but
• 2:59:26
  Speaker 1: railway sandwiches. Sir Walter did me proud, for we drank
• 2:59:31
  Speaker 1: a good champagne and had some uncommon fine port afterwards.
• 2:59:35
  Speaker 1: It made me almost hysterical to be sitting there, waited
• 2:59:39
  Speaker 1: on by a footman and a sleek butler, and remember
• 2:59:42
  Speaker 1: that I had been living for three weeks like a
• 2:59:44
  Speaker 1: brigand with every man's hand against me. I told Sir
• 2:59:49
  Speaker 1: Walter about tigerfish in the Zambezi that bite off your
• 2:59:52
  Speaker 1: fingers if you give them a chance. And we discussed
• 2:59:56
  Speaker 1: sport up and down the globe, for he had hunted
• 2:59:59
  Speaker 1: a bit in his day. We went to his study
• 3:00:02
  Speaker 1: for coffee, a jolly room full of books and trophies
• 3:00:05
  Speaker 1: and untidiness and comfort. I made up my mind that
• 3:00:09
  Speaker 1: if I ever got rid of this business and had
• 3:00:12
  Speaker 1: a house of my own, I would create just such
• 3:00:15
  Speaker 1: a room. Then, when the coffee cups were cleared away
• 3:00:20
  Speaker 1: and we got our cigars alight, my host swung his
• 3:00:23
  Speaker 1: long legs over the side of his chair and bade
• 3:00:26
  Speaker 1: me get started with my yarn. I've obeyed Harry's instructions,
• 3:00:32
  Speaker 1: he said, and the bribe he offered me was that
• 3:00:35
  Speaker 1: you would tell me something to wake me up. I'm ready,
• 3:00:39
  Speaker 1: mister Hannay. I noticed with a start that he called
• 3:00:43
  Speaker 1: me by my proper name. I began at the very beginning.
• 3:00:48
  Speaker 1: I told of my boredom in London and the night
• 3:00:51
  Speaker 1: I had come back to find Scudder gibbering on my
• 3:00:54
  Speaker 1: door step. I told him all Scudder had told me
• 3:00:57
  Speaker 1: about Caralides and the Foreign Office conference, and that made
• 3:01:02
  Speaker 1: him purse his lips and grin. Then I got to
• 3:01:05
  Speaker 1: the murder, and he grew solemn again. He heard all
• 3:01:09
  Speaker 1: about the milkman, and my time in Galloway, and my
• 3:01:12
  Speaker 1: deciphering Scudder's notes at the Inn. You've got them here,
• 3:01:17
  Speaker 1: he asked, sharply, and drew a long breath. When I
• 3:01:21
  Speaker 1: whipped the little book from my pocket, I said nothing
• 3:01:24
  Speaker 1: of the contents. Then I described my meeting with Sir
• 3:01:28
  Speaker 1: Harry and the speeches at the hall. At that he
• 3:01:32
  Speaker 1: laughed uproariously. Harry talk dashed nonsense, did he? I quite
• 3:01:38
  Speaker 1: believe it. He's as good a chap as ever breathed.
• 3:01:41
  Speaker 1: But he is idiot of an uncle, has stuffed his
• 3:01:44
  Speaker 1: head with maggots. Go on, mister Hannay, my day as
• 3:01:49
  Speaker 1: roadman excited him a bit. He made me describe the
• 3:01:53
  Speaker 1: two fellows in the car very closely, and seemed to
• 3:01:56
  Speaker 1: be raking back in his memory. He grew merry again
• 3:02:00
  Speaker 1: when he heard of the fate of that ass Joply.
• 3:02:03
  Speaker 1: But the old man in the Moorland house solemnized him
• 3:02:06
  Speaker 1: again again. I had to describe every detail of his appearance,
• 3:02:12
  Speaker 1: bland and bald headed and hooded, his eyes like a bird.
• 3:02:17
  Speaker 1: He sounds a sinister wild fowl. And you dynamited his
• 3:02:21
  Speaker 1: hermitage after he had saved you from the police, spirited
• 3:02:25
  Speaker 1: piece o work that presently I reached the end of
• 3:02:30
  Speaker 1: my wanderings. He got up slowly and looked down at
• 3:02:33
  Speaker 1: me from the hearth rug. You may dismiss the police
• 3:02:37
  Speaker 1: from your mind, he said, You're in no danger from
• 3:02:40
  Speaker 1: the law of this land. Great Scott, I cried, have
• 3:02:45
  Speaker 1: they got the murderer? No, But for the last fortnight
• 3:02:49
  Speaker 1: they have dropped you from the list of possibilities. Why,
• 3:02:54
  Speaker 1: I asked in amazement. Principally because I received a letter
• 3:02:58
  Speaker 1: from Scudder. I knew something of the man, and he
• 3:03:02
  Speaker 1: did several jobs for me. He was half crank, half genius,
• 3:03:06
  Speaker 1: but he was wholly honest The trouble about him was
• 3:03:10
  Speaker 1: his partiality for playing a lone hand. That made him
• 3:03:14
  Speaker 1: pretty well useless in any secret service. A pity, for
• 3:03:18
  Speaker 1: he had uncommon gifts. I think he was the bravest
• 3:03:22
  Speaker 1: man in the world, for he was always shivering with fright,
• 3:03:25
  Speaker 1: and yet nothing would choke him off. I had a
• 3:03:28
  Speaker 1: letter from him on the thirty first of May, but
• 3:03:31
  Speaker 1: he had been dead a week by then. The letter
• 3:03:34
  Speaker 1: was written and posted on the twenty third. He evidently
• 3:03:38
  Speaker 1: did not anticipate an immediate decease. His communications usually took
• 3:03:44
  Speaker 1: a week to reach me, for they were sent under
• 3:03:46
  Speaker 1: cover to Spain and then to Newcastle. He had a mania,
• 3:03:50
  Speaker 1: you know, for concealing his tracks. What did he say?
• 3:03:56
  Speaker 1: I stammered nothing, merely that he was in danger but
• 3:04:00
  Speaker 1: had found shelter with a good friend, and that I
• 3:04:03
  Speaker 1: would hear from you before the fifteenth of June. He
• 3:04:07
  Speaker 1: gave me no address, but said he was living near
• 3:04:10
  Speaker 1: Portland Place. I think his object was to clear you
• 3:04:14
  Speaker 1: if anything happened. When I got it, I went to
• 3:04:17
  Speaker 1: Scotland Yard, went over the details of the inquest and
• 3:04:20
  Speaker 1: concluded that you were the friend we made inquiries about you.
• 3:04:25
  Speaker 1: Mister Hannay and found you were respectable. I thought I
• 3:04:29
  Speaker 1: knew the motives for your disappearance, not only the police,
• 3:04:33
  Speaker 1: the other one too. And when I got Harry's scrawl,
• 3:04:36
  Speaker 1: I guessed at the rest I've been expecting you any
• 3:04:40
  Speaker 1: time this past week. You can imagine what a load
• 3:04:46
  Speaker 1: this took off my mind. I felt a free man
• 3:04:50
  Speaker 1: once more, for I was now up against my country's
• 3:04:53
  Speaker 1: enemies only, and not my country's law. Now let's have
• 3:04:59
  Speaker 1: the little note book, said Sir Walter. It took us
• 3:05:03
  Speaker 1: a good hour to work through it. I explained the cipher,
• 3:05:06
  Speaker 1: and he was jolly quicker picking it up. He amended
• 3:05:10
  Speaker 1: my reading of it on several points, but I think
• 3:05:12
  Speaker 1: I had been fairly correct on the whole. His face
• 3:05:16
  Speaker 1: was very grave before he had finished, and he sat
• 3:05:19
  Speaker 1: silent for a while. I don't know what to make
• 3:05:22
  Speaker 1: of it, he said at last, He's right about one thing.
• 3:05:27
  Speaker 1: What is going to happen the day after tomorrow? How
• 3:05:31
  Speaker 1: the devil can it have got known? That is ugly
• 3:05:34
  Speaker 1: enough in itself, But all this about war and the
• 3:05:38
  Speaker 1: black Stone, it reads like some wild melodrama. If only
• 3:05:43
  Speaker 1: I had more confidence in Scudder's judgment. The trouble about
• 3:05:47
  Speaker 1: him was that he was too romantic. He had the
• 3:05:51
  Speaker 1: artistic temperament and wanted a story to be better than
• 3:05:55
  Speaker 1: God meant it to be. He had a lot of
• 3:05:57
  Speaker 1: odd biases to Juwe, for example, made him see red
• 3:06:02
  Speaker 1: Jews and the high Finance the black Stone. He repeated,
• 3:06:08
  Speaker 1: der shwad ser Stein, it's like a Penny novelette. And
• 3:06:14
  Speaker 1: all this stuff about Caralide's that is the weak part
• 3:06:18
  Speaker 1: of the tale. For I happen to know that the
• 3:06:20
  Speaker 1: virtuous Karlidees is likely to outlast us. Both there is
• 3:06:25
  Speaker 1: no state in Europe that wants him gone. Besides, he
• 3:06:29
  Speaker 1: has just been playing up to Berlin and Vienna and
• 3:06:32
  Speaker 1: giving my chief some uneasy moments. No scudder has gone
• 3:06:36
  Speaker 1: off the track there. Frankly, Hannay, I don't believe that
• 3:06:40
  Speaker 1: part of his story. There's some nasty business afoot, and
• 3:06:44
  Speaker 1: he found out too much and lost his life over it.
• 3:06:47
  Speaker 1: But I'm ready to take my oath that it is
• 3:06:50
  Speaker 1: ordinary spy work. A certain great European power makes a
• 3:06:54
  Speaker 1: hobby of her spy system, and her methods are not
• 3:06:58
  Speaker 1: too particular. Since she pays by piece work, her blackguards
• 3:07:03
  Speaker 1: are not likely to stick at a murder or two.
• 3:07:06
  Speaker 1: They want our naval dispositions for their collection at the maranampt,
• 3:07:11
  Speaker 1: but they will be pigeonholed nothing more. Just then the
• 3:07:16
  Speaker 1: butler entered the room. There's a trunk called from London,
• 3:07:20
  Speaker 1: Sir Walter. It's mister Eath and he wants to speak
• 3:07:23
  Speaker 1: to you personally. My host went off to the telephone.
• 3:07:28
  Speaker 1: He returned in five minutes with a whitish face. I
• 3:07:32
  Speaker 1: apologize to the shade of scudder, he said. Caralidis was
• 3:07:37
  Speaker 1: shot dead this evening, at a few minutes after seven,
• 3:07:42
  Speaker 1: end of chapter seven, Chapter eight, The Coming of the
• 3:07:49
  Speaker 1: black Stone. I came down to breakfast next morning, after
• 3:07:54
  Speaker 1: eight hours of blessed, dreamless sleep, to find Sir Walter
• 3:07:58
  Speaker 1: decoding a telegram in the midst of muffins and marmalade.
• 3:08:03
  Speaker 1: His fresh rosiness of yesterday seemed a thought tarnished. I
• 3:08:08
  Speaker 1: had a busy hour on the telephone after you went
• 3:08:11
  Speaker 1: to bed, he said. I got my chief to speak
• 3:08:16
  Speaker 1: to the First Lord and the Secretary for War, and
• 3:08:19
  Speaker 1: they are bringing Royer over a day sooner. This wire
• 3:08:23
  Speaker 1: clinches it. He will be in London at five odd
• 3:08:27
  Speaker 1: That the code word for a Sioux chef daytar major
• 3:08:31
  Speaker 1: general should be Porker. He directed me to the hot
• 3:08:36
  Speaker 1: dishes and went on, not that I think it will
• 3:08:39
  Speaker 1: do much good. If your friends were clever enough to
• 3:08:43
  Speaker 1: find out the first arrangement, they are clever enough to
• 3:08:46
  Speaker 1: discover the change. I would give my head to know
• 3:08:50
  Speaker 1: where the leak is. We believed there were only five
• 3:08:53
  Speaker 1: men in England who knew about Royer's visit, and you
• 3:08:56
  Speaker 1: may be certain they were fewer in France, for they
• 3:08:59
  Speaker 1: met these things better there. While I ate, he continued
• 3:09:04
  Speaker 1: to talk, making me, to my surprise at present of
• 3:09:07
  Speaker 1: his full confidence. Can the dispositions not be changed? I asked?
• 3:09:14
  Speaker 1: They could, he said, but we want to avoid that
• 3:09:17
  Speaker 1: if possible. They are the result of immense thought, and
• 3:09:22
  Speaker 1: no alteration would be as good. Besides, on one or
• 3:09:26
  Speaker 1: two points, change is simply impossible. Still, something could be
• 3:09:32
  Speaker 1: done if it were absolutely necessary. But you see the difficulty, Hannay.
• 3:09:38
  Speaker 1: Our enemies are not going to be such fools as
• 3:09:41
  Speaker 1: to pick Royer's pocket or any childish game like that.
• 3:09:46
  Speaker 1: They know that would mean a row and put us
• 3:09:49
  Speaker 1: on our guard. Their aim is to get the details
• 3:09:53
  Speaker 1: without any of us knowing, so that Royer will go
• 3:09:56
  Speaker 1: back to Paris in the belief that the whole business
• 3:09:59
  Speaker 1: is still deadly secret. For once we suspect they know
• 3:10:04
  Speaker 1: that the whole thing must be altered, then we must
• 3:10:09
  Speaker 1: stick by the Frenchman's side till he is home again.
• 3:10:12
  Speaker 1: I said, if they thought they could get the information
• 3:10:15
  Speaker 1: in Paris, they would try there. It means they have
• 3:10:19
  Speaker 1: some deep scheme on foot in London, which they reckon
• 3:10:22
  Speaker 1: is going to win out. Royer dines with my chief
• 3:10:27
  Speaker 1: and then comes to my house where four people will
• 3:10:30
  Speaker 1: see him, Whittaker from the Admiralty, myself, Sir Arthur Drew,
• 3:10:36
  Speaker 1: and General Winn Stanley. The First Lord is ill and
• 3:10:40
  Speaker 1: has gone to Sheringham. At my house he will get
• 3:10:43
  Speaker 1: a certain document from Whittaker, and after that he will
• 3:10:47
  Speaker 1: be motored to Portsmouth, where a destroyer will take him
• 3:10:50
  Speaker 1: to harv His journey is too important for the ordinary
• 3:10:54
  Speaker 1: boat train. He will never be left unattended for a
• 3:10:58
  Speaker 1: moment till he is safe on French soil. The same
• 3:11:01
  Speaker 1: with Whittaker, till he meets Royer. That is the best
• 3:11:05
  Speaker 1: we can do, and it's hard to see how there
• 3:11:07
  Speaker 1: can be any miscarriage. But I don't mind admitting that
• 3:11:11
  Speaker 1: I am horribly nervous. This murder of Carolides will play
• 3:11:16
  Speaker 1: the deuce in the chancellors of Europe. After breakfast, he
• 3:11:20
  Speaker 1: asked me if I could drive a car, Well, you'll
• 3:11:23
  Speaker 1: be my chauffeur to day and wear Hudson's rig. You're
• 3:11:27
  Speaker 1: about his size. You have a hand in this business,
• 3:11:31
  Speaker 1: and we are taking no risks. There are desperate men
• 3:11:34
  Speaker 1: against us who will not respect the country retreat of
• 3:11:37
  Speaker 1: an overworked official. When I first came to London, I
• 3:11:41
  Speaker 1: had bought a car and amused myself with running about
• 3:11:44
  Speaker 1: the south of England, so I knew something of the geography.
• 3:11:49
  Speaker 1: I took Sir Walter to Town by the Bath Road
• 3:11:52
  Speaker 1: and made good going. It was a soft, breathless June morning,
• 3:11:57
  Speaker 1: with a promise of sultoriness later, but it was delicious
• 3:12:01
  Speaker 1: enough swinging through the little towns with their freshly watered streets,
• 3:12:05
  Speaker 1: and past the summer gardens of the Thames Valley. I
• 3:12:09
  Speaker 1: landed Sir Walter at his house in Queen Anne's Gate
• 3:12:13
  Speaker 1: punctually by half past eleven. The butler was coming up
• 3:12:17
  Speaker 1: by train with the luggage. The first thing he did
• 3:12:21
  Speaker 1: was to take me round the Scotland yard. There we
• 3:12:24
  Speaker 1: saw a prim gentleman with a clean shaven lawyer's face.
• 3:12:29
  Speaker 1: I've brought you the Portland place. Murderer, was Sir Walter's introduction.
• 3:12:35
  Speaker 1: The reply was a wry smile. It would have been
• 3:12:39
  Speaker 1: a welcome present, belivant. But this I presume is mister
• 3:12:43
  Speaker 1: Richard Hannay, who for some days greatly interested my department.
• 3:12:49
  Speaker 1: Mister Haddy will interest it again. He has much to
• 3:12:52
  Speaker 1: tell you, but not to day, for certain grave reasons.
• 3:12:56
  Speaker 1: His tale must wait for twenty four hours. Then I
• 3:13:00
  Speaker 1: can promise you you will be entertained and possibly edified.
• 3:13:05
  Speaker 1: I want you to assure mister Hannay that he will
• 3:13:07
  Speaker 1: suffer no further inconvenience. This assurance was promptly given. You
• 3:13:15
  Speaker 1: can take up your life away you left off. I
• 3:13:18
  Speaker 1: was told your flat, which probably you no longer wish
• 3:13:22
  Speaker 1: to occupy, is waiting for you, and your man is
• 3:13:25
  Speaker 1: still there. As you were never publicly accused, we consider
• 3:13:29
  Speaker 1: that there was no need of a public exculpation. But
• 3:13:33
  Speaker 1: on that, of course, you must please yourself. We may
• 3:13:36
  Speaker 1: want your assistance later on maca Guillivray, Sir Walter said
• 3:13:41
  Speaker 1: as we left. Then he turned me loose, come and
• 3:13:44
  Speaker 1: see me to morrow. Hannay, I needn't tell you to
• 3:13:48
  Speaker 1: keep deadly quiet. If I were you, I would go
• 3:13:51
  Speaker 1: to bed, for you must have considerable arrears of sleep
• 3:13:54
  Speaker 1: to overtake. You had better lie low, for if one
• 3:13:58
  Speaker 1: of your black Stone freme saw you, there might be trouble.
• 3:14:03
  Speaker 1: I felt curiously at a loose end. At first, it
• 3:14:07
  Speaker 1: was very pleasant to be a free man, able to
• 3:14:10
  Speaker 1: go where I wanted without fearing anything. I had only
• 3:14:13
  Speaker 1: been a month under the ban of the law, and
• 3:14:16
  Speaker 1: it was quite enough for me. I went to the
• 3:14:19
  Speaker 1: Savoy and ordered very carefully a very good luncheon, and
• 3:14:24
  Speaker 1: then smoked the best cigar the house could provide. But
• 3:14:27
  Speaker 1: I was still feeling nervous. When I saw anybody look
• 3:14:32
  Speaker 1: at me in the lounge, I grew shy and wondered
• 3:14:35
  Speaker 1: if they were thinking about the murder. After that, I
• 3:14:39
  Speaker 1: took a taxi and drove miles away up into North London.
• 3:14:43
  Speaker 1: I walked back through the fields and lines of villas
• 3:14:46
  Speaker 1: and terraces, and then slums and mean streets, and it
• 3:14:50
  Speaker 1: took me pretty near two hours. All the while my
• 3:14:53
  Speaker 1: restlessness was growing worse. I felt that great things, tremendous
• 3:14:59
  Speaker 1: things were happening on or about to happen, and I,
• 3:15:02
  Speaker 1: who was the cog wheel of the whole business, was
• 3:15:05
  Speaker 1: out of it. Royer would be landing at Dover, Sir
• 3:15:09
  Speaker 1: Walter would be making plans with the few people in
• 3:15:12
  Speaker 1: England who were in the secret, and somewhere in the
• 3:15:15
  Speaker 1: darkness the black Stone would be working. I felt the
• 3:15:20
  Speaker 1: sense of danger and impending calamity, and I had the
• 3:15:24
  Speaker 1: curious feeling too that I alone could avert it, alone
• 3:15:29
  Speaker 1: could grapple with it. But I was out of the
• 3:15:33
  Speaker 1: game now. How could it be otherwise? It was not
• 3:15:37
  Speaker 1: likely that cabinet ministers and admiralty lords and generals would
• 3:15:41
  Speaker 1: admit me to their counsels. I actually began to wish
• 3:15:45
  Speaker 1: that I could run up against one of my three
• 3:15:48
  Speaker 1: enemies that would lead to developments. I felt that I
• 3:15:53
  Speaker 1: wanted enormously to have a vulgar scrap with those gentry
• 3:15:57
  Speaker 1: where I could hit out and flatten something. I was
• 3:16:01
  Speaker 1: rapidly getting into a very bad temper. I didn't feel
• 3:16:04
  Speaker 1: like going back to my flat that had to be
• 3:16:07
  Speaker 1: faced some time, but as I still had sufficient money,
• 3:16:11
  Speaker 1: I thought I would put it off till next morning
• 3:16:13
  Speaker 1: and go to a hotel for the night. My irritation
• 3:16:17
  Speaker 1: lasted through dinner, which I had at a restaurant in
• 3:16:20
  Speaker 1: Germy Street. I was no longer hungry and let several
• 3:16:24
  Speaker 1: courses pass untasted. I drank the best part of a
• 3:16:28
  Speaker 1: bottled Burgundy, but it did nothing to cheer me. An
• 3:16:31
  Speaker 1: abominable restlessness had taken possession of me. Here was I
• 3:16:36
  Speaker 1: a very ordinary fellow with no particular brains, and yet
• 3:16:40
  Speaker 1: I was convinced that somehow I was needed to help
• 3:16:43
  Speaker 1: this business through, that without me it would all go
• 3:16:47
  Speaker 1: to blazes. I told myself it was sheer silly conceit
• 3:16:53
  Speaker 1: that four or five of the cleverest people, living with
• 3:16:56
  Speaker 1: all the might of the British Empire at their back,
• 3:16:59
  Speaker 1: had the job in hand. And yet I couldn't be convinced.
• 3:17:04
  Speaker 1: It seemed as if a voice kept speaking in my ear,
• 3:17:07
  Speaker 1: telling me to be up and doing or I would
• 3:17:10
  Speaker 1: never sleep again. The upshot was that at about half
• 3:17:15
  Speaker 1: past nine, I made up my mind to go to
• 3:17:17
  Speaker 1: Queen Anne's Gate. Very likely I would not be admitted,
• 3:17:21
  Speaker 1: but it would ease my conscience to try. I walked
• 3:17:25
  Speaker 1: down Jermyn Street and at the corner of Duke Street
• 3:17:28
  Speaker 1: passed a group of young men. They were in evening
• 3:17:32
  Speaker 1: dress and had been dining somewhere and were going on
• 3:17:34
  Speaker 1: to a music hall. One of them was Marmaduke Joply.
• 3:17:40
  Speaker 1: He saw me and stopped short. My god, the murderer,
• 3:17:45
  Speaker 1: He cried, here, your fellows, hold him. That's Hannay, the
• 3:17:49
  Speaker 1: man who did the Portland Place murder. He gripped me
• 3:17:52
  Speaker 1: by the arm, and the others crowded around. I wasn't
• 3:17:56
  Speaker 1: looking for any trouble, but my ill temper made me
• 3:17:59
  Speaker 1: play the fool. A policeman came up, and I should
• 3:18:03
  Speaker 1: have told him the truth, and if he didn't believe it,
• 3:18:06
  Speaker 1: demanded to be taken to Scotland Yard, or for that matter,
• 3:18:09
  Speaker 1: to the nearest police station. But a delay at that
• 3:18:13
  Speaker 1: moment seemed to me unendurable, and the sight of Marmey's
• 3:18:17
  Speaker 1: imbecile face was more than I could bear. I let
• 3:18:21
  Speaker 1: out with my left and had the satisfaction of seeing
• 3:18:24
  Speaker 1: him measure his length in the gutter. Then began an
• 3:18:29
  Speaker 1: unholy row. They were all on me at once, and
• 3:18:33
  Speaker 1: the policeman took me in the rear. I got in
• 3:18:36
  Speaker 1: one or two good blows, for I think with fair
• 3:18:38
  Speaker 1: play I could have licked the lot of them. But
• 3:18:40
  Speaker 1: the policeman pinned me behind, and one of them got
• 3:18:43
  Speaker 1: his fingers in my throat. Through a black cloud of rage,
• 3:18:47
  Speaker 1: I heard the officer of the law asking what was
• 3:18:50
  Speaker 1: the matter, and MARMEI between his broken teeth, declaring that
• 3:18:55
  Speaker 1: I was Hannay the murderer. Oh damn it all, I cried.
• 3:18:59
  Speaker 1: Make the fellow shut up. I advise you to leave
• 3:19:02
  Speaker 1: me alone. Constable Scotland Yard knows all about me, and
• 3:19:06
  Speaker 1: you'll get a proper wigging if you interfere with me.
• 3:19:10
  Speaker 1: You've got to come along with me, young man, said
• 3:19:13
  Speaker 1: the policeman. I saw you strike that gentleman cruel hard.
• 3:19:18
  Speaker 1: You began it too, for he wasn't doing nothing. I
• 3:19:21
  Speaker 1: seen you. Best go quietly, or I'll have to fix
• 3:19:24
  Speaker 1: you up. Exasperation and an overwhelming sense that at no
• 3:19:30
  Speaker 1: cost must I delay gave me the strength of a
• 3:19:33
  Speaker 1: bull elephant. I fairly wrenched the Constable off his feet,
• 3:19:38
  Speaker 1: flowed the man who was gripping my collar, and set
• 3:19:41
  Speaker 1: off at my best pace down Duke Street. I heard
• 3:19:44
  Speaker 1: a whistle being blown and the rush of men behind me.
• 3:19:48
  Speaker 1: I have a very fair turn of speed, and that
• 3:19:52
  Speaker 1: night I had wings in a jiffy. I was in
• 3:19:55
  Speaker 1: pow Maw and had turned down towards Saint James's Park.
• 3:19:59
  Speaker 1: I dodged the policemen at the palace gates, dived through
• 3:20:02
  Speaker 1: oppressive carriages at the entrance to the mall, and was
• 3:20:05
  Speaker 1: making for the bridge before my pursuers had crossed the roadway.
• 3:20:10
  Speaker 1: In the open ways of the park, I put on
• 3:20:12
  Speaker 1: a spurt. Happily there were few people about, and no
• 3:20:16
  Speaker 1: one tried to stop me. I was staking all on
• 3:20:19
  Speaker 1: getting to Queen Anne's Gate. When I entered that quiet thoroughfare,
• 3:20:24
  Speaker 1: it seemed deserted. Sir Walter's house was in the narrowest part,
• 3:20:29
  Speaker 1: and outside it three or four motor cars were drawn up.
• 3:20:33
  Speaker 1: I slackened speed some yards off and walked briskly up
• 3:20:36
  Speaker 1: to the door. If the butler refused me admission, or
• 3:20:40
  Speaker 1: even if he delayed to open the door, I was done.
• 3:20:45
  Speaker 1: He didn't delay. I had scarcely rung before the door opened.
• 3:20:49
  Speaker 1: I must see Sir Walter, I panted, My business is
• 3:20:52
  Speaker 1: desperately important. That butler was a great man. Without moving
• 3:20:59
  Speaker 1: a muscle, he held the door open and then shut
• 3:21:02
  Speaker 1: it behind me. Sir Walter is engaged, sir, and I
• 3:21:06
  Speaker 1: have orders to admit no one. Perhaps you will wait
• 3:21:09
  Speaker 1: to The house was of the old fashioned kind, with
• 3:21:13
  Speaker 1: a wide hall and rooms on both sides of it.
• 3:21:17
  Speaker 1: At the far end was an alcove with a telephone
• 3:21:20
  Speaker 1: and a couple of chairs, and there the butler offered
• 3:21:23
  Speaker 1: me a seat. See here, I whispered. There's trouble about
• 3:21:27
  Speaker 1: and I'm in it. But Sir Walter knows, and I
• 3:21:30
  Speaker 1: am working for him. If any one comes and asks
• 3:21:33
  Speaker 1: if i'm here, tell him a lie. He nodded, and
• 3:21:37
  Speaker 1: presently there was a noise of voices in the street
• 3:21:40
  Speaker 1: and a furious ringing at the bell. I never admired
• 3:21:44
  Speaker 1: a man more than that butler. He opened the door,
• 3:21:48
  Speaker 1: and with a face like a graven image, waited to
• 3:21:50
  Speaker 1: be questioned. Then he gave it to them. He told
• 3:21:55
  Speaker 1: them whose house it was and what his orders were,
• 3:21:58
  Speaker 1: and simply from off the doorstep, I could see it
• 3:22:02
  Speaker 1: all from my alcove, and it was better than any play.
• 3:22:07
  Speaker 1: I hadn't waited long till there came another ring at
• 3:22:09
  Speaker 1: the bell. The butler made no bones about admitting this
• 3:22:13
  Speaker 1: new visitor. While he was taking off his coat. I
• 3:22:16
  Speaker 1: saw who it was. You couldn't open a newspaper or
• 3:22:20
  Speaker 1: a magazine without seeing that face. The gray beard cut
• 3:22:24
  Speaker 1: like a spade, the firm fighting mouth, the blunt, square nose,
• 3:22:28
  Speaker 1: and the keen blue eyes. I recognized the First Sea Lord,
• 3:22:33
  Speaker 1: the man they say that made the new British Navy.
• 3:22:37
  Speaker 1: He passed my alcove and was ushered into a room
• 3:22:40
  Speaker 1: at the back of the hall. As the door opened,
• 3:22:43
  Speaker 1: I could hear the sound of low voices. It shut
• 3:22:47
  Speaker 1: and I was left alone again For twenty minutes. I
• 3:22:51
  Speaker 1: sat there, wondering what I was to do next. I
• 3:22:55
  Speaker 1: was still perfectly convinced that I was wanted, but when
• 3:22:58
  Speaker 1: or how I had no notion. I kept looking at
• 3:23:02
  Speaker 1: my watch, and as the time crept on to half
• 3:23:05
  Speaker 1: past ten, I began to think that the conference must
• 3:23:07
  Speaker 1: soon end. In a quarter of an hour, Royer should
• 3:23:11
  Speaker 1: be speeding along the road to Portsmouth. Then I heard
• 3:23:15
  Speaker 1: a bell ring, and the butler appeared. The door of
• 3:23:18
  Speaker 1: the back room opened and the First Sea Lord came out.
• 3:23:23
  Speaker 1: He walked past me, and in passing he glanced in
• 3:23:26
  Speaker 1: my direction, and for a second we looked each other
• 3:23:29
  Speaker 1: in the face only for a second, but it was
• 3:23:34
  Speaker 1: enough to make my heart jump. I had never seen
• 3:23:37
  Speaker 1: the great man before, and he had never seen me.
• 3:23:40
  Speaker 1: But in that fraction of time, something sprang into his eyes,
• 3:23:45
  Speaker 1: and that something was recognition. You can't mistake it. It
• 3:23:50
  Speaker 1: is a flicker, a spark of light, a minute shade
• 3:23:54
  Speaker 1: of difference, which means one thing, and one thing only.
• 3:24:00
  Speaker 1: It came involuntarily, for in a moment it died, and
• 3:24:04
  Speaker 1: he passed on in a maze of wild fancies. I
• 3:24:08
  Speaker 1: heard the street door close behind him. I picked up
• 3:24:11
  Speaker 1: the telephone book and looked up the number of his house.
• 3:24:14
  Speaker 1: We were connected at once, and I heard a servant's voice.
• 3:24:18
  Speaker 1: Is his lordship at home? I asked. His lordship returned
• 3:24:22
  Speaker 1: half an hour ago, said the voice, and has gone
• 3:24:25
  Speaker 1: to bed. He is not very well to night. Would
• 3:24:27
  Speaker 1: you leave a message, sir? I rang off and sat
• 3:24:31
  Speaker 1: down numbly in a chair. My part in this business
• 3:24:35
  Speaker 1: was not yet ended. It had been a close shave,
• 3:24:38
  Speaker 1: but I had been in time. Not a moment could
• 3:24:42
  Speaker 1: be lost. So I marched boldly to the door of
• 3:24:45
  Speaker 1: that back room and entered without knocking. Five surprised faces
• 3:24:49
  Speaker 1: looked up from the round table, there was Sir Walter
• 3:24:53
  Speaker 1: and Drew, the war Minister, whom I knew from his photographs.
• 3:24:57
  Speaker 1: There was a slim, elderly man who was probably with
• 3:25:00
  Speaker 1: the Admiralty official. And there was General Winn Stanley, conspicuous
• 3:25:05
  Speaker 1: from the long scar on his forehead. Lastly, there was
• 3:25:08
  Speaker 1: a short, stout man with an iron Grahame starsh and
• 3:25:12
  Speaker 1: bushy eyebrows, who had been arrested. In the middle of
• 3:25:14
  Speaker 1: a sentence, Sir Walter's face showed surprise and annoyance. This
• 3:25:22
  Speaker 1: is mister Hannay, of whom I have spoken to you,
• 3:25:26
  Speaker 1: he said apologetically to the company. I'm afraid, Hannay, this
• 3:25:30
  Speaker 1: visit is ill timed. I was getting back my coolness
• 3:25:36
  Speaker 1: that remains to be seen, Sir I said, But I
• 3:25:39
  Speaker 1: think it may be in the nick of time. For
• 3:25:41
  Speaker 1: God's sake, gentlemen, tell me who went out a minute ago,
• 3:25:46
  Speaker 1: Lord a Loa, Sir Walter said, reddening with anger. It
• 3:25:51
  Speaker 1: was not I cried, it was his living image. But
• 3:25:54
  Speaker 1: it was not Lord a Loa. It was someone who
• 3:25:57
  Speaker 1: recognized me, someone I have seen in the last month.
• 3:26:01
  Speaker 1: He had scarcely left the doorstep when I rang up
• 3:26:04
  Speaker 1: Lord Alloa's house, and was told he had come in
• 3:26:06
  Speaker 1: half an hour before and had gone to bed. Who who?
• 3:26:11
  Speaker 1: Someone stammered the black stone, I cried, and I sat
• 3:26:16
  Speaker 1: down in the chair so recently vacated and looked round
• 3:26:20
  Speaker 1: at five badly scared a gentleman. End of Chapter eight,
• 3:26:28
  Speaker 1: Chapter nine, the thirty nine steps. Nonsense, said the official
• 3:26:36
  Speaker 1: from the Admiralty. Sir Walter got up and left the room,
• 3:26:40
  Speaker 1: while we looked blankly at the table. He came back
• 3:26:43
  Speaker 1: in ten minutes with a long face. I've spoken to
• 3:26:47
  Speaker 1: a lower, he said, had him out of bed, very grumpy.
• 3:26:52
  Speaker 1: He went straight home after Maulross's dinner. But it's madness
• 3:26:58
  Speaker 1: broke in general, Winstanley. Do you mean to tell me
• 3:27:02
  Speaker 1: that that man came here and sat beside me for
• 3:27:05
  Speaker 1: the best part of an hour, and that I didn't
• 3:27:08
  Speaker 1: detect the imposture? Alloa must be out of his mind,
• 3:27:13
  Speaker 1: don't you see the cleverness of it? I said, you
• 3:27:16
  Speaker 1: were too interested in other things to have the use
• 3:27:19
  Speaker 1: of your eyes. You took Lord Alloa for granted, if
• 3:27:23
  Speaker 1: there had been anybody else you might have looked more closely.
• 3:27:26
  Speaker 1: But it was natural for him to be here, and
• 3:27:29
  Speaker 1: that puts you all to sleep. Then the Frenchman spoke
• 3:27:34
  Speaker 1: very slowly and in good English. The young man is right,
• 3:27:39
  Speaker 1: his psychology is good. Our enemies have not been foolish.
• 3:27:45
  Speaker 1: But I don't see, went on Winstanley. Their object was
• 3:27:50
  Speaker 1: to get these dispositions without our knowing it. Now it
• 3:27:53
  Speaker 1: only required one of us to mention to Alloa our
• 3:27:57
  Speaker 1: meeting to night for the whole fard to be exposed.
• 3:28:01
  Speaker 1: Sir Walter laughed drily. The selection of a lower shows
• 3:28:06
  Speaker 1: their acumen. Which of us was likely to speak to
• 3:28:09
  Speaker 1: him about to night? Or was he likely to open
• 3:28:12
  Speaker 1: the subject. I remembered the first Sea lord's reputation for
• 3:28:17
  Speaker 1: taciturnity and shortness of temper. Oh, the one thing that
• 3:28:22
  Speaker 1: puzzles may, said the general is what good his visit
• 3:28:26
  Speaker 1: here would do that spy fellow, he could not carry
• 3:28:30
  Speaker 1: away several pages of figures and strange names in his head.
• 3:28:35
  Speaker 1: That is not difficult, the Frenchman replied. A good spy
• 3:28:40
  Speaker 1: is trained to have a photographic memory like your own. Macaulay,
• 3:28:46
  Speaker 1: You noticed he said nothing, but went through these papers
• 3:28:50
  Speaker 1: again and again. I think we may assume that he
• 3:28:53
  Speaker 1: has every detail stamped on his mind. When I was younger,
• 3:28:58
  Speaker 1: I could do the Centrick. Well, I suppose there's nothing
• 3:29:02
  Speaker 1: for it but to change the plans, said Sir Walter ruefully.
• 3:29:07
  Speaker 1: Whittaker was looking very glam Did you tell Lord a
• 3:29:11
  Speaker 1: Lower what had happened? He asked. No, I can speak
• 3:29:16
  Speaker 1: with absolute assurance, but I'm nearly certain we can't make
• 3:29:20
  Speaker 1: any serious change unless we alter the geography of England.
• 3:29:25
  Speaker 1: Another thing must be said. It was Royer who spoke.
• 3:29:29
  Speaker 1: I talked freely when that man was here. I have
• 3:29:32
  Speaker 1: told him something of the military plans of my government.
• 3:29:37
  Speaker 1: I was permitted to say so much, but that information
• 3:29:41
  Speaker 1: would be worth many millions to our enemies. No, my friends,
• 3:29:45
  Speaker 1: I see no other way. The man who came here
• 3:29:49
  Speaker 1: and his confederates must be taken, and taken at once.
• 3:29:54
  Speaker 1: Good God, I cried, And we have not a rag
• 3:29:59
  Speaker 1: of a clue. Besides, said Whittaker, there is the post.
• 3:30:05
  Speaker 1: By this time the news will be on its way. No,
• 3:30:09
  Speaker 1: said the Frenchman, you do not understand the habits of
• 3:30:13
  Speaker 1: the spy. He receives personally his reward and he delivers
• 3:30:18
  Speaker 1: personally his intelligence. We in France know something of the breed.
• 3:30:25
  Speaker 1: There is still a chance mess Ami these men must
• 3:30:29
  Speaker 1: cross the sea, and there are ships to be searched
• 3:30:33
  Speaker 1: and parts to be watched. Believe me, the need is
• 3:30:37
  Speaker 1: desperate for both France and Britain. Royer's grave good sense
• 3:30:43
  Speaker 1: seemed to pull us together. He was the man of
• 3:30:46
  Speaker 1: action among fumblers. But I saw no hope in any face,
• 3:30:50
  Speaker 1: and I felt none where among the fifty millions of
• 3:30:55
  Speaker 1: these islands. And within a dozen hours were we to
• 3:30:58
  Speaker 1: lay hands on the three the cleverest rogues in Europe.
• 3:31:03
  Speaker 1: Then I had an inspiration. Where is Scudder's book, I asked,
• 3:31:08
  Speaker 1: Sir Walter quick Man, I remember something in it. He
• 3:31:12
  Speaker 1: unlocked the drawer of a bureau and gave it to me.
• 3:31:15
  Speaker 1: I found the place. Thirty nine steps, I read, and again,
• 3:31:22
  Speaker 1: thirty nine steps I counted them. High tide ten seventeen
• 3:31:28
  Speaker 1: p m. The Admiralty man was looking at me as
• 3:31:32
  Speaker 1: if he thought I had gone mad. Don't you see
• 3:31:35
  Speaker 1: it's a clue, I cried. Scudder knew where these fellows led.
• 3:31:40
  Speaker 1: He knew where they were going to leave the country,
• 3:31:43
  Speaker 1: though he kept the name to himself. To Morrow was
• 3:31:46
  Speaker 1: the day, and it was some place where high tide
• 3:31:49
  Speaker 1: was at ten seventeen. They may have gone to night,
• 3:31:54
  Speaker 1: said some one. Not them. They have their own snug
• 3:31:58
  Speaker 1: secret away, and they woke to be hurried. I know Germans,
• 3:32:02
  Speaker 1: and they are mad about working to a plan. Where
• 3:32:05
  Speaker 1: the devil? Can I get a book of tide tables?
• 3:32:09
  Speaker 1: Whittaker brightened up. It's a chance, he said, Let's go
• 3:32:13
  Speaker 1: over to the Admiralty. We got into two of the
• 3:32:16
  Speaker 1: waiting motor cars, all but Sir Walter, who went off
• 3:32:20
  Speaker 1: to Scotland Yard to mobilize Gillivray, so he said. We
• 3:32:26
  Speaker 1: marched through empty corridors and big bear chambers, where the
• 3:32:30
  Speaker 1: charwomen were busy, till we reached a little room lined
• 3:32:33
  Speaker 1: with books and maps. A resident clerk was unearthed, who
• 3:32:37
  Speaker 1: presently fetched from the library the Admiralty tide tables. I
• 3:32:43
  Speaker 1: sat at the desk, and the others stood round. For
• 3:32:46
  Speaker 1: somehow or other I had got charge of this outfit.
• 3:32:50
  Speaker 1: It was no good. There were hundreds of entries, and
• 3:32:54
  Speaker 1: as far as I could see, ten seventeen might cover
• 3:32:57
  Speaker 1: fifty places. We had to find some way of narrowing
• 3:33:00
  Speaker 1: the possibilities. I took my head in my hands and
• 3:33:04
  Speaker 1: thought there must be some way of reading this riddle.
• 3:33:09
  Speaker 1: What did scudder mean by steps. I thought of dock steps,
• 3:33:14
  Speaker 1: but if he had meant that, I didn't think he
• 3:33:16
  Speaker 1: would have mentioned the number. It must be some place
• 3:33:20
  Speaker 1: where there were several staircases, and one marked out from
• 3:33:25
  Speaker 1: the other by having thirty nine steps. Then I had
• 3:33:30
  Speaker 1: a sudden thought and hunted up all the steamer sailings.
• 3:33:34
  Speaker 1: There was no boat which left for the continent at
• 3:33:37
  Speaker 1: ten seventeen p m. Why was high tide important? If
• 3:33:42
  Speaker 1: it was a harbor, there must be some little place
• 3:33:44
  Speaker 1: where the tide mattered, or else it was a heavy
• 3:33:48
  Speaker 1: draft boat. But there was no regular steamer sailing at
• 3:33:52
  Speaker 1: that hour, and somehow I didn't think they would travel
• 3:33:55
  Speaker 1: by a big boat from a regular harbor. So it
• 3:33:58
  Speaker 1: must be some little harbor where the tide was important,
• 3:34:03
  Speaker 1: or perhaps no harbor at all. But if it was
• 3:34:07
  Speaker 1: a little port, I couldn't see what the steps signified.
• 3:34:11
  Speaker 1: There were no sets of staircases at any harbor that
• 3:34:13
  Speaker 1: I had ever seen. It must be some place which
• 3:34:17
  Speaker 1: a particular staircase identified, and where the tide was full
• 3:34:22
  Speaker 1: at ten seventeen. On the whole, it seemed to me
• 3:34:26
  Speaker 1: that the place must be a bit of open coast.
• 3:34:29
  Speaker 1: But the staircases kept puzzling me. Then I went back
• 3:34:34
  Speaker 1: to wider considerations. Whereabouts would a man be likely to
• 3:34:39
  Speaker 1: leave for Germany, a man in a hurry who wanted
• 3:34:42
  Speaker 1: a speedy and a secret passage, Not from any of
• 3:34:46
  Speaker 1: the big harbors, and not from the Channel, or the
• 3:34:49
  Speaker 1: west coast or the north of Scotland. For remember, he
• 3:34:53
  Speaker 1: was starting from London. I measured the distance on the
• 3:34:57
  Speaker 1: map and tried to put myself in the enemy's shoes.
• 3:35:00
  Speaker 1: I should try for Ostend or Antwerp or Rotterdam, and
• 3:35:05
  Speaker 1: I should sail from somewhere on the east coast, between
• 3:35:09
  Speaker 1: Cromer and dover. All this was very loose guessing, and
• 3:35:15
  Speaker 1: I didn't pretend it was ingenious or scientific. I wasn't
• 3:35:18
  Speaker 1: any kind of Sherlock Holmes, but I've always fancied I
• 3:35:22
  Speaker 1: had a kind of instinct about questions like this. I
• 3:35:26
  Speaker 1: don't know if I can explain myself, but I used
• 3:35:28
  Speaker 1: to use my brains as far as they went, and
• 3:35:31
  Speaker 1: after they came to a black wall, I guessed, and
• 3:35:34
  Speaker 1: I usually found my guesses pretty right. So I set
• 3:35:38
  Speaker 1: out all my conclusions on a bit of admiralty paper.
• 3:35:42
  Speaker 1: They ran like this, fairly certain one place where there
• 3:35:48
  Speaker 1: are several sets of stairs. One that matters, distinguished by
• 3:35:53
  Speaker 1: having thirty nine steps. Two full tide at ten seventy
• 3:36:01
  Speaker 1: leaving shore only possible at full tide. Three steps not
• 3:36:08
  Speaker 1: dock steps, and so placed probably not harbor. Four No
• 3:36:15
  Speaker 1: regular night steamer at ten seventeen. Means of transport must
• 3:36:20
  Speaker 1: be a tramp, unlikely yacht or fishing boat. There my
• 3:36:26
  Speaker 1: reasoning stopped. I made another list, which I headed guest,
• 3:36:31
  Speaker 1: but I was just as sure of the one as
• 3:36:33
  Speaker 1: the other. Guest. One place not harbor but open coast.
• 3:36:41
  Speaker 1: Two boat small trawler, yacht or launch. Three place somewhere
• 3:36:49
  Speaker 1: on east coast between Cromer and Dover. It struck me
• 3:36:54
  Speaker 1: as odd that I should be sitting at that desk
• 3:36:56
  Speaker 1: with a cabinet minister, a field marshal, two high government
• 3:37:01
  Speaker 1: officials and a French general watching me, while from the
• 3:37:04
  Speaker 1: scribble of a dead man, I was trying to drag
• 3:37:07
  Speaker 1: a secret which meant life or death for us. Sir
• 3:37:11
  Speaker 1: Walter had joined us, and presently mc gillivray arrived. He
• 3:37:15
  Speaker 1: had sent out instructions to watch the ports and railway
• 3:37:18
  Speaker 1: stations for the three gentlemen whom I had described to
• 3:37:21
  Speaker 1: Sir Walter, not that he or anybody else thought that
• 3:37:24
  Speaker 1: it would do much good. Here's the most I can
• 3:37:28
  Speaker 1: make of it, I said, We've got to find a
• 3:37:31
  Speaker 1: place where there are several staircases down to the beach,
• 3:37:34
  Speaker 1: one of which has thirty nine steps. I think it's
• 3:37:38
  Speaker 1: a piece of open coast with biggish cliffs, somewhere between
• 3:37:42
  Speaker 1: the wash and the channel. Also, it's a place where
• 3:37:46
  Speaker 1: full tide is at ten seventeen to morrow night. Then
• 3:37:51
  Speaker 1: an idea struck me. Is there no inspector of coast
• 3:37:55
  Speaker 1: Guards or some fellow like that who knows the East coast?
• 3:38:00
  Speaker 1: Has said there was, and that he lived in Clapham.
• 3:38:03
  Speaker 1: He went off in a car to fetch him, and
• 3:38:06
  Speaker 1: the rest of us sat about the little room and
• 3:38:08
  Speaker 1: talked of anything that came into our heads. I lit
• 3:38:11
  Speaker 1: a pipe and went over the whole thing again till
• 3:38:14
  Speaker 1: my brain grew weary. About one in the morning, the
• 3:38:18
  Speaker 1: coastguard man arrived. He was a fine old fellow, with
• 3:38:21
  Speaker 1: the look of a naval officer, and was desperately respectful
• 3:38:25
  Speaker 1: to the company. I left the war Minister to cross
• 3:38:28
  Speaker 1: examine him, for I felt he would think it cheek
• 3:38:31
  Speaker 1: in me to talk. We want you to tell us
• 3:38:34
  Speaker 1: the places you now on the east coast where there
• 3:38:37
  Speaker 1: are cliffs and where are several sets of steps run
• 3:38:41
  Speaker 1: down to the beach. He thought for a bit. What
• 3:38:46
  Speaker 1: kind of steps do you mean, sir? There are plenty
• 3:38:49
  Speaker 1: of places with roads cut down through the cliffs, and
• 3:38:53
  Speaker 1: most roads have a step or two in them. Or
• 3:38:57
  Speaker 1: do you mean regular steercases or steps so to speak?
• 3:39:02
  Speaker 1: Sir Arthur looked towards me. We mean regular staircases, I said.
• 3:39:09
  Speaker 1: He reflected a minute or two. I don't know that
• 3:39:12
  Speaker 1: I can think of any Hum. Wait a second. There's
• 3:39:16
  Speaker 1: a place in Norfolk, Brattlesham, beside the golf course where
• 3:39:22
  Speaker 1: there are a couple of staircases to let the gentlemen
• 3:39:24
  Speaker 1: get a lost ball. That's not it, I said. Then
• 3:39:30
  Speaker 1: there are plenty of marine parades. If that's what you mean,
• 3:39:34
  Speaker 1: every seaside resort has them. I shook my head. It's
• 3:39:39
  Speaker 1: got to be more retired than that, I said, Well, gentlemen,
• 3:39:44
  Speaker 1: or I can't think of anywhere else. Of course, there's
• 3:39:48
  Speaker 1: the rough, what's that, I asked? The big chalk headland
• 3:39:54
  Speaker 1: in Kent, close to Bradgate. It's got a lot of
• 3:39:57
  Speaker 1: villas on the top, and so some of the houses
• 3:40:00
  Speaker 1: have staircases down to a private beach. It's a very
• 3:40:05
  Speaker 1: high toned sort of place, and the residents there like
• 3:40:09
  Speaker 1: to keep by themselves. I tore open the tide tables
• 3:40:13
  Speaker 1: and found Bradgate high tide there was at ten twenty
• 3:40:18
  Speaker 1: seven p m. On the fifteenth of June. We're on
• 3:40:21
  Speaker 1: the scent at last, I cried, excitedly. How can I
• 3:40:25
  Speaker 1: find out what is the tide at the rough? I
• 3:40:28
  Speaker 1: can tell you that, sir, said the coastguard man. I
• 3:40:33
  Speaker 1: once was letter house there in this very month, and
• 3:40:37
  Speaker 1: I used to go out at night to the deep
• 3:40:39
  Speaker 1: sea fishing the tides ten minutes before Bradgate. I closed
• 3:40:44
  Speaker 1: the book and looked round at the company. If one
• 3:40:48
  Speaker 1: of those staircases has thirty nine steps, we have solved
• 3:40:51
  Speaker 1: the mystery, gentlemen, I said, I want the loan of
• 3:40:54
  Speaker 1: your car, Sir Walter, and a map of the roads.
• 3:40:57
  Speaker 1: If mister mc gillivray will spare me ten minutes, I
• 3:41:00
  Speaker 1: think we can prepare something for tomorrow. It was ridiculous
• 3:41:05
  Speaker 1: in me to take charge of the business like this,
• 3:41:08
  Speaker 1: but they didn't seem to mind. And after all. I
• 3:41:10
  Speaker 1: had been in the show from the start. Besides, I
• 3:41:13
  Speaker 1: was used to rough jobs, and these eminent gentlemen were
• 3:41:16
  Speaker 1: too clever not to see it. It was General Royer
• 3:41:20
  Speaker 1: who gave me my commission. I for one, he said,
• 3:41:24
  Speaker 1: AM content to leave the matter in mister Hannay's hands.
• 3:41:29
  Speaker 1: By half past three I was tearing past the moonlit
• 3:41:32
  Speaker 1: hedgerows of Kent, with mc gillivray's best man on the
• 3:41:36
  Speaker 1: seat beside me. End of Chapter nine. Chapter ten, the
• 3:41:43
  Speaker 1: last chapter various parties converging on the sea. A pink
• 3:41:49
  Speaker 1: and blue June morning found me at Bradgate, looking from
• 3:41:53
  Speaker 1: the Griffin Hotel over a smooth sea to the light
• 3:41:56
  Speaker 1: ship on the cock Sands, which seemed the size of
• 3:41:59
  Speaker 1: a bellbow. A couple of miles further south, and much
• 3:42:03
  Speaker 1: nearer the shore, a small destroyer was anchored. Scaife, mc
• 3:42:09
  Speaker 1: gilvray's man, who had been in the navy, knew the
• 3:42:12
  Speaker 1: boat and told me her name and her commanders. So
• 3:42:15
  Speaker 1: I sent off a wire to Sir Walter. After breakfast,
• 3:42:19
  Speaker 1: Scaife got from a house agent a key for the
• 3:42:22
  Speaker 1: gates of the staircases on the rough. I walked with
• 3:42:25
  Speaker 1: him along the sands and sat down in a nook
• 3:42:28
  Speaker 1: of the cliffs while he investigated the half dozen of them.
• 3:42:33
  Speaker 1: I didn't want to be seen, but the place at
• 3:42:35
  Speaker 1: this hour was quite deserted, and all the time I
• 3:42:38
  Speaker 1: was on that beach, I saw nothing but the seagulls.
• 3:42:42
  Speaker 1: It took him more than an hour to do the job.
• 3:42:45
  Speaker 1: And when I saw him coming towards me cunning a
• 3:42:47
  Speaker 1: bit of paper, I can tell you my heart was
• 3:42:50
  Speaker 1: in my mouth. Everything depended, you see, on my guess
• 3:42:55
  Speaker 1: proving right. He read aloud the number of steps in
• 3:42:59
  Speaker 1: the difference stairs thirty four, thirty five, thirty nine, forty two,
• 3:43:05
  Speaker 1: forty seven and twenty one, where the cliffs grew lower.
• 3:43:10
  Speaker 1: I almost got up and shouted. We hurried back to
• 3:43:14
  Speaker 1: the town and sent a wire to mc gillivray. I
• 3:43:17
  Speaker 1: wanted half a dozen men, and I directed them to
• 3:43:20
  Speaker 1: divide themselves among different specified hotels. Then Scaife set out
• 3:43:25
  Speaker 1: to prospect the house at the head of the thirty
• 3:43:28
  Speaker 1: nine steps. He came back with news that both puzzled
• 3:43:32
  Speaker 1: and reassured me. The house was called Trafalgar Lodge and
• 3:43:38
  Speaker 1: belonged to an old gentleman called Appleton, a retired stockbroker.
• 3:43:43
  Speaker 1: The house agent said mister Appleton was there a good
• 3:43:46
  Speaker 1: deal in the summer time and was in residence now
• 3:43:50
  Speaker 1: had been for the better part of a week. Scaife
• 3:43:53
  Speaker 1: could pick up very little information about him, except that
• 3:43:56
  Speaker 1: he was a decent old fellow who paid his bills
• 3:43:59
  Speaker 1: regularly and was always good for a fiver for a
• 3:44:01
  Speaker 1: local charity. Then Scaife seems to have penetrated to the
• 3:44:06
  Speaker 1: back door of the house, pretending he was an agent
• 3:44:09
  Speaker 1: for sewing machines. Only three servants were kept, a cook,
• 3:44:14
  Speaker 1: a parlor maid and housemaid, and they were just the
• 3:44:17
  Speaker 1: sort that you would find in a respectable middle class household.
• 3:44:22
  Speaker 1: The cook was not the gossiping kind and had pretty
• 3:44:25
  Speaker 1: soon shut the door in his face, but Scaife said
• 3:44:28
  Speaker 1: he was positive she knew nothing. Next door, there was
• 3:44:33
  Speaker 1: a new house building which would give good cover for observation,
• 3:44:37
  Speaker 1: and the villa on the other side was to let
• 3:44:39
  Speaker 1: and its garden was rough and shrubby. I borrowed Scaife's telescope,
• 3:44:45
  Speaker 1: and before lunch went for a walk along the roff.
• 3:44:48
  Speaker 1: I kept well behind the rows of villas and found
• 3:44:51
  Speaker 1: a good observation point on the edge of the golf course.
• 3:44:55
  Speaker 1: There I had a view of the line of turf
• 3:44:57
  Speaker 1: along the cliff top, with seats placed at intervals, and
• 3:45:01
  Speaker 1: the little square plots railed in and planted with bushes.
• 3:45:05
  Speaker 1: Whence the staircases descended to the beach, I saw a
• 3:45:09
  Speaker 1: trafowger lodge very plainly, a red brick villa with a verandah,
• 3:45:14
  Speaker 1: a tennis lawn behind, and in front the ordinary seaside
• 3:45:19
  Speaker 1: flower garden full of marguerite and scraggly geraniums. There was
• 3:45:24
  Speaker 1: a flag staff from which an enormous union jack hung
• 3:45:27
  Speaker 1: limply in the still air. Presently, I observed some one
• 3:45:31
  Speaker 1: leave the house and saunter along the cliff. When I
• 3:45:35
  Speaker 1: got my glasses on him, I saw it was an
• 3:45:37
  Speaker 1: old man wearing white flannel trousers, a blue serge jacket
• 3:45:41
  Speaker 1: and a straw hat. He carried field glasses and a
• 3:45:44
  Speaker 1: newspaper and sat down on one of the iron seats
• 3:45:47
  Speaker 1: and began to read. Sometimes he would lay down the
• 3:45:51
  Speaker 1: paper and turn his glasses on the sea. He looked
• 3:45:55
  Speaker 1: for a long time at the destroyer. I watched him
• 3:45:58
  Speaker 1: for half an hour till he got up and went
• 3:46:00
  Speaker 1: back to the house for his luncheon. When I returned
• 3:46:03
  Speaker 1: to the hotel for mine, I wasn't feeling very confident.
• 3:46:08
  Speaker 1: This decent commonplace dwelling was not what I had expected.
• 3:46:12
  Speaker 1: The man might be the bald archeologist of that horrible
• 3:46:16
  Speaker 1: Moorland farm, or he might not. He was exactly the
• 3:46:20
  Speaker 1: kind of satisfied old bird you will find in every
• 3:46:23
  Speaker 1: suburb and every holiday place. If he wanted a type
• 3:46:27
  Speaker 1: of the perfectly harmless person, he would probably pitch on that.
• 3:46:32
  Speaker 1: But after lunch, as I sat in the hotel porch,
• 3:46:35
  Speaker 1: I perked up, for I saw the thing I had
• 3:46:38
  Speaker 1: hoped for and dreaded to miss. A yacht came up
• 3:46:42
  Speaker 1: from the south and dropd anchor pretty well opposite the raff.
• 3:46:47
  Speaker 1: She seemed about one hundred and fifty tons, and I
• 3:46:49
  Speaker 1: saw she belonged to the squadron from the White ensign.
• 3:46:53
  Speaker 1: So Skaife and I went down to the harbor and
• 3:46:55
  Speaker 1: hired a boatman for an afternoon's fishing. I spent a
• 3:46:59
  Speaker 1: warm and peaceful afternoon. We caught between us about twenty
• 3:47:03
  Speaker 1: pounds of cod and life, and out in that dancing
• 3:47:06
  Speaker 1: blue sea, I took a cheerier view of things above
• 3:47:10
  Speaker 1: the white cliffs of the raft. I saw the green
• 3:47:13
  Speaker 1: and red of the villas, especially the great flag staff
• 3:47:17
  Speaker 1: of Trafalgar Lodge. About four o'clock, when we had fished enough,
• 3:47:22
  Speaker 1: I made the boatman row us round the yacht, which
• 3:47:25
  Speaker 1: lay like a delicate white bird, ready at a moment
• 3:47:28
  Speaker 1: to flee. Scaife said she must be a fast boat
• 3:47:32
  Speaker 1: from her build, and that she was pretty heavily engined.
• 3:47:36
  Speaker 1: Her name was the ariadne, as I discovered from the
• 3:47:40
  Speaker 1: cap of one of the men who was polishing brass work.
• 3:47:43
  Speaker 1: I spoke to him and got an answer in the
• 3:47:46
  Speaker 1: soft dialect of Essex. Another hand that came along passed
• 3:47:50
  Speaker 1: me the time of day in an unmistakable English tongue.
• 3:47:55
  Speaker 1: Our boatman had an argument with one of them about
• 3:47:57
  Speaker 1: the weather, and for a few minutes we lay on
• 3:48:00
  Speaker 1: our oars close to the starboard bow. Then the men
• 3:48:04
  Speaker 1: suddenly disregarded us and bent their heads to their work.
• 3:48:07
  Speaker 1: As an officer came along the deck. He was a pleasant,
• 3:48:11
  Speaker 1: clean looking young fellow, and he put a question to
• 3:48:13
  Speaker 1: us about our fishing in very good English. But there
• 3:48:17
  Speaker 1: could be no doubt about him. His close cropped heads
• 3:48:21
  Speaker 1: and the cut of his collar and tie never came
• 3:48:23
  Speaker 1: out of England. That did something to reassure me, But
• 3:48:28
  Speaker 1: as we rode back to Bradgate, my obstinate doubts would
• 3:48:32
  Speaker 1: not be dismissed. The thing that worried me was the
• 3:48:35
  Speaker 1: reflection that my enemies knew that I had got my
• 3:48:38
  Speaker 1: knowledge from Scudder, and it was Scudder who had given
• 3:48:42
  Speaker 1: me the clue to this place. If they knew that
• 3:48:45
  Speaker 1: Scudder had this clue, would they not be certain to
• 3:48:49
  Speaker 1: change their plans? Too much depended on their success for
• 3:48:53
  Speaker 1: them to take any risks. The whole question was how
• 3:48:57
  Speaker 1: much they understood about Scudder's knowledge. I had talked confidently
• 3:49:02
  Speaker 1: last night about Germans always sticking to a scheme, But
• 3:49:06
  Speaker 1: if they had any suspicions that I was on their track,
• 3:49:09
  Speaker 1: they would be fools not to cover it. I wondered
• 3:49:13
  Speaker 1: if the man last night had seen that I recognized
• 3:49:15
  Speaker 1: him somehow I did not think he had, and to
• 3:49:19
  Speaker 1: that I clung. But the whole business had never seemed
• 3:49:24
  Speaker 1: as difficult as that afternoon, when by all calculations I
• 3:49:28
  Speaker 1: should have been rejoicing in assured success. In the hotel,
• 3:49:32
  Speaker 1: I met the commander of the destroyer, to whom Skaife
• 3:49:35
  Speaker 1: introduced me, and with whom I had a few words.
• 3:49:39
  Speaker 1: Then I thought I would put in an hour or
• 3:49:41
  Speaker 1: two watching Trafalgar Lodge. I found a place further up
• 3:49:45
  Speaker 1: the hill, in the garden of the empty house. From
• 3:49:48
  Speaker 1: there I had a full view of the court in
• 3:49:50
  Speaker 1: which two figures were having a game of tennis. One
• 3:49:54
  Speaker 1: was the old man whom I had already seen. The
• 3:49:57
  Speaker 1: other was a younger fellow, wearing some club colors in
• 3:50:01
  Speaker 1: the scarf around his middle. They played with tremendous zest,
• 3:50:06
  Speaker 1: like two city gents who wanted hard exercise to open
• 3:50:09
  Speaker 1: their paws. You couldn't conceive a more innocent spectacle. They
• 3:50:14
  Speaker 1: shouted and laughed and stopped for drinks. When a maid
• 3:50:17
  Speaker 1: brought out two tankers on a salver, I rubbed my
• 3:50:21
  Speaker 1: eyes and asked myself if I was not the most
• 3:50:23
  Speaker 1: immortal fool on earth. Mystery and darkness had hung about
• 3:50:28
  Speaker 1: the men who hunted me over the Scotch Moors in
• 3:50:30
  Speaker 1: aeroplane and motor car, and notably about that infernal antiquarian.
• 3:50:36
  Speaker 1: It was easy enough to connect these folks with the
• 3:50:39
  Speaker 1: knife that pinned scudder to the floor, and with fell
• 3:50:42
  Speaker 1: designs on the world's peace. But here were two guileless
• 3:50:47
  Speaker 1: citizens taking their innocuous exercise, and soon to go indoors
• 3:50:52
  Speaker 1: to a humdrum dinner, where they would talk of market
• 3:50:55
  Speaker 1: prices and the latest cricket scores and the gossip of
• 3:50:59
  Speaker 1: their native serb. I had been making a net to
• 3:51:02
  Speaker 1: catch vultures and falcons, and lo and behold, two plump
• 3:51:07
  Speaker 1: thrushes had blundered into it. Presently, a third figure arrived,
• 3:51:12
  Speaker 1: a young man on a bicycle with a bag of
• 3:51:14
  Speaker 1: golf clubs slung on his back. He strode round to
• 3:51:18
  Speaker 1: the tennis lawn and was welcomed riotously by the players.
• 3:51:22
  Speaker 1: Evidently they were chaffing him, and their chaff sounded horribly English.
• 3:51:28
  Speaker 1: Then the plump man, mopping his brow with a silk handkerchief,
• 3:51:31
  Speaker 1: announced that he must have a tub. I heard his
• 3:51:35
  Speaker 1: very words. I've got into a proper latha, he said.
• 3:51:39
  Speaker 1: This will bring down my weight and my handicap. Bob,
• 3:51:43
  Speaker 1: I'll take you on to morrow and give you a
• 3:51:45
  Speaker 1: stroke a hole. You couldn't find anything much more English
• 3:51:49
  Speaker 1: than that. They all went into the house and left
• 3:51:53
  Speaker 1: me feeling a precious idiot. I'd been barking up the
• 3:51:57
  Speaker 1: wrong tree this time. These men might be acting that
• 3:52:01
  Speaker 1: if they were, where was their audience? They didn't know
• 3:52:05
  Speaker 1: I was sitting thirty yards off in a rhododendron. It
• 3:52:08
  Speaker 1: was simply impossible to believe that these three hearty fellows
• 3:52:12
  Speaker 1: were anything but what they seemed. Three ordinary game playing
• 3:52:17
  Speaker 1: suburban English gentlemen, wearisome if you like, but sordidly innocent.
• 3:52:23
  Speaker 1: And yet there were three of them, and one was
• 3:52:26
  Speaker 1: old and one was plump, and one was lean and dark,
• 3:52:30
  Speaker 1: and their house chimed in with Scudder's notes, and half
• 3:52:34
  Speaker 1: a mile off was lying a steam yacht with at
• 3:52:36
  Speaker 1: least one German officer. I thought of Karolides lying dead,
• 3:52:42
  Speaker 1: and all Europe trembling on the edge of an earthquake,
• 3:52:45
  Speaker 1: and the men I had left behind me in London,
• 3:52:47
  Speaker 1: who were waiting anxiously on the events of the next hours.
• 3:52:51
  Speaker 1: There was no doubt that hell was afoot somewhere. The
• 3:52:55
  Speaker 1: black Stone had won, and if it survived this dune
• 3:52:58
  Speaker 1: night would bank its winnings. There seemed only one thing
• 3:53:02
  Speaker 1: to do, go forward, as if I had no doubts,
• 3:53:05
  Speaker 1: and if I was going to make a fool of
• 3:53:07
  Speaker 1: myself to do it handsomely. Never in my life have
• 3:53:12
  Speaker 1: I faced a job with greater disinclination. I would rather,
• 3:53:16
  Speaker 1: in my then mind, have walked into a den of anarchists,
• 3:53:20
  Speaker 1: each with his browning handy, or faced a charging lion
• 3:53:24
  Speaker 1: with a pop gun, than enter the happy home of
• 3:53:27
  Speaker 1: three cheerful Englishmen and tell them that their game was up.
• 3:53:31
  Speaker 1: How they would laugh at me. But suddenly I remembered
• 3:53:35
  Speaker 1: a thing I once heard in Rhodesia from old Peter Pinard.
• 3:53:40
  Speaker 1: I have quoted Peter already in this narrative. He was
• 3:53:43
  Speaker 1: the best scout I ever knew, and before he turned respectable,
• 3:53:47
  Speaker 1: he had been pretty often on the windy side of
• 3:53:49
  Speaker 1: the law when he had been wanted badly by the authorities.
• 3:53:54
  Speaker 1: Peter once discussed with me the question of disguises, and
• 3:53:58
  Speaker 1: he had a theory which struck me at the time.
• 3:54:01
  Speaker 1: He said, barring absolute certainties like fingerprints, mere physical traits
• 3:54:06
  Speaker 1: were very little use for identification. If the fugitive really
• 3:54:11
  Speaker 1: knew his business. He laughed at things like dyed hair
• 3:54:15
  Speaker 1: and false beards and such childish follies. The only thing
• 3:54:19
  Speaker 1: that mattered was what Peter called atmosphere. If a man
• 3:54:24
  Speaker 1: could get into perfectly different surroundings from those in which
• 3:54:27
  Speaker 1: he had been first observed, and this is the important part.
• 3:54:31
  Speaker 1: Really play up to those surroundings and behave as if
• 3:54:35
  Speaker 1: he had never been out of them. He would puzzle
• 3:54:37
  Speaker 1: the cleverest detectives on earth. And he used to tell
• 3:54:41
  Speaker 1: a story of how he once borrowed a black coat
• 3:54:44
  Speaker 1: and went to church and shared the same hymn book
• 3:54:47
  Speaker 1: with the man that was looking for him. If that
• 3:54:49
  Speaker 1: man had seen him in decent company before, he would
• 3:54:52
  Speaker 1: have recognized him. But he had only seen him snuffing
• 3:54:55
  Speaker 1: the lights in a public house with a revolver. The
• 3:54:59
  Speaker 1: recollection of peace Peter's talk gave me the first real
• 3:55:02
  Speaker 1: comfort I had had that day. Peter had been a
• 3:55:05
  Speaker 1: wise old bird, and these fellows I was after were
• 3:55:09
  Speaker 1: about the pick of the aviary. What if they were
• 3:55:13
  Speaker 1: playing Peter's game. A fool tries to look different, A
• 3:55:18
  Speaker 1: clever man looked the same and is different again. There
• 3:55:23
  Speaker 1: was that other maxim of Peter's which helped me when
• 3:55:25
  Speaker 1: I had been a road man. If you are playing
• 3:55:29
  Speaker 1: a part, you will never keep it up unless you
• 3:55:32
  Speaker 1: convince yourself that you are it. That would explain the
• 3:55:36
  Speaker 1: game of tennis. Those chaps didn't need to act. They
• 3:55:40
  Speaker 1: just turned a handle and passed into another life, which
• 3:55:44
  Speaker 1: came as naturally to them as the first. It sounds
• 3:55:47
  Speaker 1: like a platitude, but Peter used to say it was
• 3:55:50
  Speaker 1: the big secret of all the famous criminals. It was
• 3:55:54
  Speaker 1: now getting on for eight o'clock, and I went back
• 3:55:57
  Speaker 1: and saw Scaife to give him his instructions. I arranged
• 3:56:01
  Speaker 1: with him how to place his men, and then I
• 3:56:03
  Speaker 1: went for a walk, for I didn't feel up to
• 3:56:06
  Speaker 1: any dinner. I went round the deserted golf course, and
• 3:56:10
  Speaker 1: then to a point on the cliffs further north, beyond
• 3:56:13
  Speaker 1: the line of the villas, on the little trim newly
• 3:56:17
  Speaker 1: made roads. I met people in flannels coming back from
• 3:56:20
  Speaker 1: tennis and the beach, and a coast guard from the
• 3:56:23
  Speaker 1: wireless station, and donkeys and pierrots paddling homewards out at sea.
• 3:56:29
  Speaker 1: In the blue dusk, I saw lights appear on the
• 3:56:32
  Speaker 1: Ariadne and on the destroyer away to the south, and
• 3:56:36
  Speaker 1: beyond the cock sands, the bigger lights of steamers making
• 3:56:40
  Speaker 1: for the Thames. The whole scene was so peaceful and
• 3:56:44
  Speaker 1: ordinary that I got more dashed in spirits every second.
• 3:56:48
  Speaker 1: It took all my resolution to stroll towards Trafalgar Lodge.
• 3:56:52
  Speaker 1: About half past nine. On the way, I got a
• 3:56:56
  Speaker 1: piece of solid comfort from the sight of a greyhound
• 3:56:59
  Speaker 1: that was swinging along at a nursemaid's heel. He reminded
• 3:57:03
  Speaker 1: me of a dog I used to have in Rhodesia,
• 3:57:05
  Speaker 1: and of the time when I took him hunting with
• 3:57:07
  Speaker 1: me in the Pally Hills. We were after Rebok the
• 3:57:11
  Speaker 1: dun Kind, and I recollected how we had followed one
• 3:57:14
  Speaker 1: beast and both he and I had clean lost it.
• 3:57:19
  Speaker 1: A greyhound works by sight, and my eyes are good enough,
• 3:57:23
  Speaker 1: but that buck simply leaked out of the landscape. Afterwards
• 3:57:28
  Speaker 1: I found out how it managed it against the gray
• 3:57:32
  Speaker 1: rock of the copies. It showed no more than a
• 3:57:34
  Speaker 1: crow against the thundercloud. It didn't need to run away.
• 3:57:39
  Speaker 1: All it had to do was to stand still and
• 3:57:42
  Speaker 1: melt into the background. Suddenly, as those memories chased across
• 3:57:47
  Speaker 1: my brain, I thought of my present case and applied
• 3:57:51
  Speaker 1: the moral. The black stone didn't need to bolt. They
• 3:57:55
  Speaker 1: were quietly absorbed into a landscape. I was on the
• 3:57:59
  Speaker 1: right track, and I jammed that down in my mind
• 3:58:02
  Speaker 1: and vowed never to forget it. The last word was
• 3:58:06
  Speaker 1: with Peter pinnart scarce men would be posted now, but
• 3:58:11
  Speaker 1: there was no sign of a soul. The house stood
• 3:58:14
  Speaker 1: as open as a market place for anybody to observe.
• 3:58:18
  Speaker 1: A three foot railing separated it from the cliff road.
• 3:58:21
  Speaker 1: The low sound of voices revealed where the occupants were
• 3:58:24
  Speaker 1: finishing dinner. Everything was as public and above board as
• 3:58:28
  Speaker 1: a charity bazaar. Feeling the greatest fall on earth, I
• 3:58:33
  Speaker 1: opened the gate and rang the bell. A man of
• 3:58:38
  Speaker 1: my sort, who has traveled about the world in rough places,
• 3:58:41
  Speaker 1: gets on perfectly well with two classes, what you may
• 3:58:45
  Speaker 1: call the upper and the lower. He understands them, and
• 3:58:49
  Speaker 1: they understand him. I was at home with herds and
• 3:58:53
  Speaker 1: tramps and road men, and I was sufficiently at my
• 3:58:57
  Speaker 1: ease with people like Sir Walter and the men I
• 3:58:59
  Speaker 1: had met the night before. I can't explain why, but
• 3:59:03
  Speaker 1: it is a fact. But what fellows like me don't
• 3:59:07
  Speaker 1: understand is the great, comfortable, satisfied middle class world, the
• 3:59:12
  Speaker 1: folk that live in villas and suburbs. He doesn't know
• 3:59:16
  Speaker 1: how they look at things. He doesn't understand their conventions,
• 3:59:21
  Speaker 1: and he is as shy of them as a black mamber.
• 3:59:25
  Speaker 1: When a trim parlor maid opened the door, I could
• 3:59:28
  Speaker 1: hardly find my voice. I asked for mister Appleton and
• 3:59:32
  Speaker 1: was ushered in. My plan was to walk straight into
• 3:59:36
  Speaker 1: the dining room and by a sudden appearance wake in
• 3:59:39
  Speaker 1: the men that start of recognition which would confirm my theory.
• 3:59:43
  Speaker 1: But when I found myself in that neat hall, the
• 3:59:46
  Speaker 1: place mastered me. There were the golf clubs and the
• 3:59:50
  Speaker 1: tennis rackets, the straw hats and caps, the rows of gloves,
• 3:59:55
  Speaker 1: the sheaf for walking sticks which you will find in
• 3:59:58
  Speaker 1: ten thousand British homes. A stack of neatly folded coats
• 4:00:03
  Speaker 1: and waterproofs covered the top of an old oak chest.
• 4:00:06
  Speaker 1: There was a grandfather clock ticking, and some polished brass
• 4:00:10
  Speaker 1: warming pans on the walls, and a barometer and a
• 4:00:14
  Speaker 1: print of Chilton winning the Saint Leger. The place was
• 4:00:18
  Speaker 1: as orthodox as an Anglican church. When the maid asked
• 4:00:22
  Speaker 1: me for my name, I gave it automatically and was
• 4:00:26
  Speaker 1: shown into the smoking room on the right side of
• 4:00:28
  Speaker 1: the hall. That room was even worse. I hadn't time
• 4:00:32
  Speaker 1: to examine it, but I could see some framed group
• 4:00:35
  Speaker 1: photographs above the mantelpiece, and could have sworn they were
• 4:00:38
  Speaker 1: English public school or college. I had only one glance,
• 4:00:43
  Speaker 1: for I managed to pull myself together and go after
• 4:00:45
  Speaker 1: the maid. But I was too late. She had already
• 4:00:49
  Speaker 1: entered the dining room and given my name to her master,
• 4:00:52
  Speaker 1: and I had missed the chance of seeing how the
• 4:00:55
  Speaker 1: three took it. When I walked into the room, the
• 4:00:58
  Speaker 1: old man at the head of the table had risen
• 4:01:00
  Speaker 1: and turned round to meet me. He was in evening dress,
• 4:01:05
  Speaker 1: a short coat and black tie, as was the other,
• 4:01:08
  Speaker 1: whom I had called in my mind the plump one.
• 4:01:11
  Speaker 1: The third, the dark fellow, wore a blue serge suit
• 4:01:15
  Speaker 1: and a soft white collar, and the colors of some
• 4:01:17
  Speaker 1: club or school. The old man's manners were perfect, Miss
• 4:01:23
  Speaker 1: d Hannay, he said, hesitatingly, Did you wish to see me?
• 4:01:28
  Speaker 1: One moment, you fellows, and I'll rejoin you. We had
• 4:01:33
  Speaker 1: better go to the smoking room. Though I hadn't an
• 4:01:37
  Speaker 1: ounce of confidence in me, I forced myself to play
• 4:01:40
  Speaker 1: the game and pulled up a chair and sat down
• 4:01:43
  Speaker 1: on it. I think we've met before, I said, and
• 4:01:47
  Speaker 1: I guess you know my business. The light in the
• 4:01:50
  Speaker 1: room was dim, but so far as I could see
• 4:01:53
  Speaker 1: their faces, they played the part of mystification very well, maybe,
• 4:01:59
  Speaker 1: may be, said the old man. I haven't a very
• 4:02:03
  Speaker 1: good memory, but I'm afraid you must tell me your errand,
• 4:02:07
  Speaker 1: for I really don't know it well. Then I said,
• 4:02:12
  Speaker 1: and all the time I seemed to myself to be
• 4:02:14
  Speaker 1: talking pure foolishness. I've come to tell you that the
• 4:02:18
  Speaker 1: game's up. I have here a warrant for the arrest
• 4:02:21
  Speaker 1: of you three gentlemen. Have rest, said the old man,
• 4:02:26
  Speaker 1: and he looked really shocked of rest. Good God, what for?
• 4:02:31
  Speaker 1: For the murder of Franklin's scudder in London on the
• 4:02:34
  Speaker 1: twenty third day of last month. I've never heard the
• 4:02:39
  Speaker 1: name before, said the old man in a dazed voice.
• 4:02:43
  Speaker 1: One of the others spoke up. That was the Portland
• 4:02:46
  Speaker 1: Place murder. I read about it, Good heavens, you must
• 4:02:49
  Speaker 1: be mad, sir. Where do you come from Scotland yard?
• 4:02:53
  Speaker 1: I said. After that, for a minute there was utter silence.
• 4:02:58
  Speaker 1: The old man was staring at his place and fumbling
• 4:03:00
  Speaker 1: with a nut, the very muddle of innocent bewilderment. Then
• 4:03:05
  Speaker 1: the plump one spoke up. He stammered a little like
• 4:03:08
  Speaker 1: a man picking his words. Nah, don't get fur fur,
• 4:03:12
  Speaker 1: flustered Uncle he said. It's all a ridiculous mistake. But
• 4:03:16
  Speaker 1: these things happen sometimes, and we can easily set it right.
• 4:03:21
  Speaker 1: It were, won't be hard to prove our innocence. I
• 4:03:24
  Speaker 1: can show that I was out of the country on
• 4:03:27
  Speaker 1: the twenty third of May, and Bob was in a
• 4:03:29
  Speaker 1: nursing home. You were in London. But you can explain
• 4:03:32
  Speaker 1: what you were doing. Rye Percy. Of course, that's easy enough.
• 4:03:38
  Speaker 1: The twenty third that was the day after Agatha's wedding.
• 4:03:42
  Speaker 1: Let me see what was I doing. I came up
• 4:03:46
  Speaker 1: in the morning from Woking and lunched at the club
• 4:03:49
  Speaker 1: with Charley Simmons. Then nah, ah, yes, I dined with
• 4:03:54
  Speaker 1: the fishmongers. I remember, for the punch didn't agree with
• 4:03:57
  Speaker 1: me and I was seedy the next morning. Hang it all,
• 4:04:01
  Speaker 1: there's the cigar box I brought back from the dinner.
• 4:04:04
  Speaker 1: He pointed to an object on the table and laughed nervously. Ah,
• 4:04:09
  Speaker 1: I think, sir, said the young man, addressing me respectfully.
• 4:04:13
  Speaker 1: You will see you are mistaken. Oh. We want to
• 4:04:16
  Speaker 1: assist the law like all Englishmen, and we don't want
• 4:04:19
  Speaker 1: Scotland Yard to be making four fools of themselves. That's
• 4:04:22
  Speaker 1: so Uncle Certainly, Bob, the old fellow seemed to be
• 4:04:27
  Speaker 1: recovering his voice. Certainly, we'll do anything in our power
• 4:04:31
  Speaker 1: to assist the authorities. But but this is a bit
• 4:04:35
  Speaker 1: too much. I can't get over it. How Nellie will chuckle,
• 4:04:40
  Speaker 1: said the plump man. She always said that you would
• 4:04:43
  Speaker 1: die of boredom because nothing ever happened to you, And
• 4:04:46
  Speaker 1: now you've got it thick and strong, And he began
• 4:04:50
  Speaker 1: to laugh very pleasantly. By jove, yes, just think of it.
• 4:04:55
  Speaker 1: What a story to tell at the club, really, mister Hannay,
• 4:05:00
  Speaker 1: I suppose I should be angry to show my innocence,
• 4:05:03
  Speaker 1: but it's too funny. I almost forgive you the fright
• 4:05:06
  Speaker 1: you gave me. You looked so glom I thought I
• 4:05:10
  Speaker 1: might have been walking in my sleep and killing people.
• 4:05:14
  Speaker 1: It couldn't be acting. It was too confoundedly genuine. My
• 4:05:19
  Speaker 1: heart went into my boots, and my first impulse was
• 4:05:22
  Speaker 1: to apologize and clear out. But I told myself I
• 4:05:26
  Speaker 1: must see it through, even though I was to be
• 4:05:28
  Speaker 1: the laughing stock of Britain. The light from the dinner
• 4:05:32
  Speaker 1: table candlesticks was not very good, and to cover my confusion,
• 4:05:36
  Speaker 1: I got up walked to the door, and switched on
• 4:05:39
  Speaker 1: the electric light. The sudden glare made them blink, and
• 4:05:43
  Speaker 1: I stood scanning the three faces. Well, I made nothing
• 4:05:48
  Speaker 1: of it. One was old and bald, one was stout,
• 4:05:52
  Speaker 1: one was dark and thin. There was nothing in their
• 4:05:55
  Speaker 1: appearance to prevent them being the three who had hunted
• 4:05:58
  Speaker 1: me in Scotland, but there was nothing to identify them.
• 4:06:03
  Speaker 1: I simply can't explain why I, who as a road man,
• 4:06:06
  Speaker 1: had looked into two pairs of eyes, and as ned
• 4:06:10
  Speaker 1: ainslie into another pair, Why I, who have a good
• 4:06:14
  Speaker 1: memory and reasonable powers of observation, could find no satisfaction.
• 4:06:19
  Speaker 1: They seemed exactly what they professed to be, and I
• 4:06:22
  Speaker 1: could not have sworn to one of them. There in
• 4:06:26
  Speaker 1: that pleasant dining room, with etchings on the walls and
• 4:06:29
  Speaker 1: a picture of an old lady in a bib above
• 4:06:32
  Speaker 1: the mantel piece, I could seem nothing to connect them
• 4:06:35
  Speaker 1: with the Moorland desperadoes. There was a silver cigarette box
• 4:06:39
  Speaker 1: beside me, and I saw that it had been won
• 4:06:42
  Speaker 1: by Percival Appleton, a squire of the Saint Bede's Club,
• 4:06:46
  Speaker 1: in a golf tournament. I had to keep firm hold
• 4:06:50
  Speaker 1: of Peter Pinart to prevent myself from bolting out of
• 4:06:53
  Speaker 1: that house, well, said the old man politely. Are you
• 4:06:58
  Speaker 1: reassured by your sc routiny, sir? I hope you'll find
• 4:07:02
  Speaker 1: it consistent with your duty to drop this ridiculous business.
• 4:07:07
  Speaker 1: I make no complaint, but you see how annoying it
• 4:07:10
  Speaker 1: must be to respectable people. I shook my head. Oh lord,
• 4:07:16
  Speaker 1: said the young man, this is a bit too thick.
• 4:07:20
  Speaker 1: Do you propose to march us off to the police station,
• 4:07:23
  Speaker 1: asked the plump one. The That might be the best
• 4:07:26
  Speaker 1: way of it, but I suppose you won't be content
• 4:07:29
  Speaker 1: with the local branch. I have the right to ask
• 4:07:32
  Speaker 1: to see your warrant, but I don't wish to cast
• 4:07:34
  Speaker 1: any aspersions upon you. You're only doing your duty. But
• 4:07:38
  Speaker 1: you'll admit it's horribly awkward. What do you propose to do?
• 4:07:43
  Speaker 1: There was nothing to do except to call in my
• 4:07:45
  Speaker 1: men and have them arrested, or to confess my blunder
• 4:07:48
  Speaker 1: and clear out. I felt mesmerized by the whole place,
• 4:07:52
  Speaker 1: by the air of obvious innocence, not innocence merely, but frank, honest,
• 4:07:58
  Speaker 1: bewilderment and concern. The three faces. Oh Peter Pinaw, I
• 4:08:04
  Speaker 1: groaned inwardly, and for a moment I was near damning
• 4:08:07
  Speaker 1: myself for a fool and asking their pardon. Meanwhile, I
• 4:08:11
  Speaker 1: vote we have a game of bridge, said the plump one.
• 4:08:15
  Speaker 1: It will give mister Hannay time to think over things.
• 4:08:18
  Speaker 1: And you know we have been wanting a fourth player.
• 4:08:21
  Speaker 1: Do you play, sir? I accepted, as if it had
• 4:08:24
  Speaker 1: been an ordinary invitation at the club. The whole business
• 4:08:28
  Speaker 1: had mesmerized me. We went into the smoking room, where
• 4:08:32
  Speaker 1: a card table was set out, and I was offered
• 4:08:35
  Speaker 1: things to smoke and drink. I took my place at
• 4:08:38
  Speaker 1: the table in a kind of dream. The window was open,
• 4:08:42
  Speaker 1: and the moon was flooding the cliffs and sea with
• 4:08:45
  Speaker 1: a great tide of yellow light. There was moonshine too.
• 4:08:48
  Speaker 1: In my head. The three had recovered their composure and
• 4:08:52
  Speaker 1: were talking easily, just the kind of slangy talk you
• 4:08:56
  Speaker 1: will hear in any golf club house. I must have
• 4:09:00
  Speaker 1: cut a rum figure sitting there, knitting my brows with
• 4:09:03
  Speaker 1: my eyes wandering. My partner was the young dark one.
• 4:09:08
  Speaker 1: I play a fair hand at bridge, but I must
• 4:09:10
  Speaker 1: have been rank bad that night. They saw they had
• 4:09:14
  Speaker 1: got me puzzled, and that put them more than ever
• 4:09:17
  Speaker 1: at their ease. I kept looking at their faces, but
• 4:09:20
  Speaker 1: they conveyed nothing to me. It was not that they
• 4:09:24
  Speaker 1: looked different, they were different. I clung desperately to the
• 4:09:29
  Speaker 1: words of Peter Pinard. Then something awoke me. The old
• 4:09:34
  Speaker 1: man laid down his hand to light a cigar. He
• 4:09:37
  Speaker 1: didn't pick it up at once, but sat back for
• 4:09:40
  Speaker 1: a moment in his chair, with his fingers tapping on
• 4:09:43
  Speaker 1: his knees. It was the moment I remembered when I
• 4:09:46
  Speaker 1: had stood before him in the Moorland farm, with the
• 4:09:49
  Speaker 1: pistols of his servants behind me. A little thing lasting
• 4:09:54
  Speaker 1: only a second, and the odds were a thousand to
• 4:09:57
  Speaker 1: one that I might have had my eyes on my
• 4:09:59
  Speaker 1: cards at the time and missed it. But I didn't,
• 4:10:03
  Speaker 1: And in a flash, the air seemed to clear, some
• 4:10:06
  Speaker 1: shadow lifted from my brain, and I was looking at
• 4:10:09
  Speaker 1: the three men with full and absolute recognition. The clock
• 4:10:15
  Speaker 1: on the mantelpiece struck ten o'clock. The three faces seemed
• 4:10:19
  Speaker 1: to change before my eyes and reveal their secrets. The
• 4:10:22
  Speaker 1: young one was the murderer. Now I saw cruelty and ruthlessness,
• 4:10:28
  Speaker 1: where before I had seen only good humor. His knife,
• 4:10:31
  Speaker 1: I made certain had skewered Scudder to the floor. His
• 4:10:35
  Speaker 1: kind had put the bullet in karlids. The plump man's
• 4:10:39
  Speaker 1: features seemed to dislayer and form again as I looked
• 4:10:42
  Speaker 1: at them. He hadn't a face, only a hundred masks
• 4:10:46
  Speaker 1: that he could assume when he pleased that Chap must
• 4:10:50
  Speaker 1: have been a superb actor. Perhaps he had been lured
• 4:10:54
  Speaker 1: a lower of the night before, perhaps not. It didn't matter.
• 4:10:59
  Speaker 1: I wondered if he was the fellow who had first
• 4:11:01
  Speaker 1: tracked Scudder and left his card on him. Scudder had
• 4:11:05
  Speaker 1: said he lisped, and I can imagine how the adoption
• 4:11:09
  Speaker 1: of a lisp might add terror. But the old man
• 4:11:12
  Speaker 1: was the pick of the lot. He was sheer, brain,
• 4:11:16
  Speaker 1: icye cool, calculating as ruthless as a steam hammer. Now
• 4:11:22
  Speaker 1: that my eyes were opened, I wondered where I had
• 4:11:25
  Speaker 1: seen the benevolence. His jaw was like chilled steel, his
• 4:11:30
  Speaker 1: eyes had the inhuman luinosity of a bird's. I went
• 4:11:34
  Speaker 1: on playing, and every second a greater hate welled up
• 4:11:38
  Speaker 1: in my heart. It almost choked me, and I couldn't answer.
• 4:11:42
  Speaker 1: When my partner spoke. Only a little longer could I
• 4:11:46
  Speaker 1: endure their company. Bob look at the time, said the
• 4:11:51
  Speaker 1: old man. You'd better think about catching your train. Bob's
• 4:11:55
  Speaker 1: got to go to town to night, he added, turning
• 4:11:59
  Speaker 1: to me. The voice rang now as false as hell.
• 4:12:03
  Speaker 1: I looked at the clock, and it was nearly half
• 4:12:05
  Speaker 1: past ten. I'm afraid you must put off your journey,
• 4:12:09
  Speaker 1: I said. Oh damn, said the young man. I thought
• 4:12:14
  Speaker 1: you'd drop that rot. I've simply got to go. You
• 4:12:17
  Speaker 1: can have my address, and I'll give you any security
• 4:12:20
  Speaker 1: you like. No, I said, you must stay at that.
• 4:12:26
  Speaker 1: I think they must have realized that the game was desperate.
• 4:12:29
  Speaker 1: Their only chance had been to convince me that I
• 4:12:32
  Speaker 1: was playing the fool, and that had failed. But the
• 4:12:35
  Speaker 1: old man spoke again, I'll go bail for my nephew.
• 4:12:40
  Speaker 1: That ought to content you, mister Hannay. Was it fancy
• 4:12:45
  Speaker 1: or did I detect some halt in the smoothness of
• 4:12:48
  Speaker 1: that voice? There must have been, for as I glanced
• 4:12:52
  Speaker 1: at him, his eyelids fell in that hawk like hood
• 4:12:56
  Speaker 1: which fear had stamped on my memory. I blew my whistle.
• 4:13:01
  Speaker 1: In an instant, the lights were out. A pair of
• 4:13:04
  Speaker 1: strong arms gripped me round the waist, covering the pockets
• 4:13:07
  Speaker 1: in which I might be expected to carry a pistol schnell.
• 4:13:11
  Speaker 1: Franz cried a voice, dear boot, dear boot. As it spoke,
• 4:13:16
  Speaker 1: I saw two of my fellows emerge in the moonlit lawn.
• 4:13:19
  Speaker 1: The young dark man leapt for the window, was through
• 4:13:23
  Speaker 1: it and over the low fence before a hand could
• 4:13:25
  Speaker 1: touch him. I grappled the old chap and the room
• 4:13:28
  Speaker 1: seemed to fill with figures. I saw the plump one collared,
• 4:13:32
  Speaker 1: but my eyes were all for the out of doors,
• 4:13:35
  Speaker 1: where Franz sped on over the road towards the railed
• 4:13:38
  Speaker 1: entrance to the beech stairs. One man followed him, but
• 4:13:42
  Speaker 1: he had no chance. The gate locked behind the fugitive,
• 4:13:46
  Speaker 1: and I stood staring with my hands on the old
• 4:13:48
  Speaker 1: boy's throat for such a time as a man might
• 4:13:52
  Speaker 1: take to descend those steps to the sea. Suddenly my
• 4:13:56
  Speaker 1: prisoner broke from me and flung himself on the wall.
• 4:13:59
  Speaker 1: There was a click, as if a lever had been pulled.
• 4:14:02
  Speaker 1: Then came a low rumbling far far below the ground,
• 4:14:07
  Speaker 1: and through the window I saw a cloud of chalky
• 4:14:09
  Speaker 1: dust pouring out of the shaft of the stairway. Someone
• 4:14:14
  Speaker 1: switched on the light. The old man was looking at
• 4:14:17
  Speaker 1: me with blazing eyes. He is safe, he cried, You
• 4:14:21
  Speaker 1: cannot follow who in time he is gone. He has
• 4:14:25
  Speaker 1: triumphed dashwadsted ist in der sigis kerner. There was more
• 4:14:31
  Speaker 1: in those eyes than any common triumph. They had been
• 4:14:35
  Speaker 1: hooded like a bird of prey, and now they flamed
• 4:14:38
  Speaker 1: with a hawk's pride. A white, fantastic heat burned in them,
• 4:14:44
  Speaker 1: and I realized for the first time the terrible thing
• 4:14:47
  Speaker 1: I had been up against. This man was more than
• 4:14:50
  Speaker 1: a spy in his foul way. He had been a patriot.
• 4:14:55
  Speaker 1: As the handcuffs clinked on his wrists, I said my
• 4:14:59
  Speaker 1: last word to him, I hope Franz will bear his triumph. Well,
• 4:15:04
  Speaker 1: I ought to tell you that the Ariadne for the
• 4:15:06
  Speaker 1: last hour has been in our hands. Three weeks later,
• 4:15:12
  Speaker 1: as all the world knows, we went to war. I
• 4:15:15
  Speaker 1: joined the new Army the first week, and owing to
• 4:15:18
  Speaker 1: my matta billy experience, got a captain's commissioned straight off.
• 4:15:22
  Speaker 1: But I had done my best service, I think before
• 4:15:26
  Speaker 1: I put on Khaki. End of Chapter ten and end
• 4:15:32
  Speaker 1: of The Thirty nine Steps by John Buchan