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00:37I returned from the city on that May afternoon in 1914, pretty well disgusted with life.
00:44I'd been three months in England and was fed up with it.
00:47I couldn't get enough exercise, and the amusements of London seemed as flat as soda water that had been left
00:53standing in the sun.
00:55Richard Hanni, I kept telling myself, you have got yourself into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had better
01:01climb out.
01:03Made me bite my lips to think of the plans I had been building up those last years in South
01:07Africa.
01:09I'd made a fortune as a mining engineer, and I had figured out all kinds of ways of enjoying myself.
01:14My father had brought me out of Scotland as a young man, and I had never been home since, so
01:19England was a sort of Arabian Nights to me.
01:22And I counted on stopping there for the rest of my days, but from the first I was disappointed with
01:27it.
01:29In about a week I was tired of seeing sights, and in less than a month I had had enough
01:33of restaurants, theatres, and race meetings.
01:37Here I was, solidly middle-aged, with enough money to have a good time, yawning my head off all day.
01:45On my way home, I turned into my club, had a long drink, and read the evening papers.
01:52There was an article about Karolidis, the Greek premier.
01:56I rather liked the chap. He seemed honest at least, but I gathered that they hated him pretty deeply in
02:02Berlin and Vienna.
02:04One paper said that he was the only barrier between Europe and Armageddon.
02:10The night was fine and clear as I walked back to my flat in Portland Place.
02:14I was just fitting my key into the door when I noticed a man at my elbow.
02:18I had not seen him approach, and the sudden appearance made me start.
02:22He was a slim man with a short brown beard and small, piercing blue eyes.
02:27I recognised him as the occupant of a flat on the top floor.
02:30Can I speak to you, he said. May I come in for a minute?
02:34He was steadying his voice with an effort, and his hand was pawing at my arm.
02:38I got my door open and motioned him in.
02:41He fastened the chain with his own hand.
02:44I'm very sorry, he said humbly.
02:46It's a mighty liberty, but you look the kind of man who would understand.
02:50Say, will you do me a good turn?
02:52I'll listen to you, I said. That's all I'll promise.
02:56I was getting worried by the antics of this nervous little chap.
03:00There was a drinks tray on a table beside him, from which he filled himself a stiff whisky.
03:05He drank it off in three gulps and cracked the glass as he set it down.
03:09Pardon me, he said. I'm a bit rattled tonight.
03:11You see, I happen at this moment to be dead.
03:16I sat down in an armchair and lit my pipe.
03:20What does it feel like, I asked.
03:23I was pretty certain that I had to deal with a madman.
03:26A smile flickered over his drawn face.
03:29Oh, I'm not mad yet.
03:32Say, sir, I've been watching you, and I reckon you're an honest man and not afraid of playing a bold
03:37hand.
03:38I need help worse than any man ever needed it, and I want to know if I can count you
03:42in.
03:43Get on with your yarn, I said, and I'll tell you.
03:47He seemed to brace himself for a great effort,
03:51and then started on the most bizarre rigmarole I had ever heard.
03:56Here's the gist of it.
03:58He was an American from Kentucky, involved in politics,
04:02and I took him for a sharp, restless fellow who always wanted to get down to the roots of things,
04:06and who had gotten a little further down than he wanted.
04:12Behind all the governments in Europe, there was a big subterranean movement going on,
04:17engineered by very dangerous people.
04:19He'd come on it by accident.
04:22It fascinated him.
04:24He went further, and then he got caught.
04:28I gathered that most of the people in it were the sort of educated anarchists that make revolutions,
04:34but that beside them, there were financiers who were playing for money.
04:39The aim of the whole conspiracy was to get Russia and Germany at loggerheads.
04:45He had another drink, and I mixed it for myself, for I was getting interested in the beggar.
04:51So I said,
04:53Why are you dead?
04:55He smiled.
04:57I'm coming to that, but I've got to put you in wise about a lot of things first.
05:01If you read your newspapers, I guess you know the name of Constantine Carolides.
05:07I sat up at that, for I had been reading about him that very afternoon.
05:12He is the man that has wrecked all their games.
05:15He is the one big brain in the whole show,
05:18and he happens also to be an honest man.
05:21On the 15th day of June, he is coming to this city.
05:25The British Foreign Office has taken to having international tea parties,
05:29and the biggest of them is due on that date.
05:33Carolides will be murdered then,
05:35and there will be nothing between us and Armageddon.
05:38But it's not going to come off if there's a certain man who knows the wheels of the business,
05:44alive, right here in London on the 15th of June,
05:48and that man is going to be your servant, Franklin P. Scudder.
05:54He sat, blinking like an owl, fluttering with nerves,
05:57and yet desperately determined.
06:01By this time, I was pretty well convinced that he was telling the truth.
06:07It was the wildest sort of narrative,
06:08but I had heard in my time many steep tales which turned out to be true,
06:12and I had made a practice of judging the man rather than the story.
06:18Once I had discovered this plot, said Scudder,
06:21I realized that there was only one way to put my pursuers to sleep.
06:25I had to die.
06:28I told the man that valets me that I was feeling pretty bad,
06:31and got myself up to look like death.
06:33Then I got a corpse, you can always get a body in London,
06:37and made it up to look like me.
06:39The jaw was the weak point in the likeness,
06:41so I blew it away with a revolver.
06:44I watched from my window till I saw you come home,
06:46and then I slipped down the stair to meet you.
06:48And now, all I need is to stay dead until the 15th of June.
06:56I thought for an instant or two.
06:58Right.
07:00I'll trust you for the night.
07:01Just one word, Mr. Scudder.
07:03I believe you're an honest man,
07:05but if you're not,
07:06I should warn you that I'm a handyman with a gun.
07:10I made him up a bed in my smoking room and sought my own couch,
07:14more cheerful than I had been for the past month.
07:17Things did happen occasionally,
07:19even in this God-forgotten metropolis.
07:23They found Scudder's corpse the following day.
07:27Caused a huge commotion in the building.
07:29Suicide, they reckoned.
07:30This cheered Scudder up no end,
07:32and the first two days he stayed with me in that back room,
07:35he was very peaceful.
07:37He read and smoked a bit,
07:39made a heap of jottings in a black notebook,
07:42and every night we had a game of chess,
07:44at which he beat me hollow.
07:46But on the third day,
07:48I could see he was beginning to get restless.
07:51Say, Hanni, he said,
07:53I judge I should let you a bit deeper into this business.
07:57I should hate to go out without leaving somebody else to put up a fight.
08:01And he began to tell me in detail what I had only just heard vaguely.
08:06I did not give him very much close attention.
08:09The fact is,
08:09I was more interested in his own adventures than in his high politics.
08:14I remember that he was very clear that the danger to Carolides
08:18would not begin till he had got to London,
08:20and would come from the very highest quarters,
08:24where there would be no thought of suspicion.
08:27The name Giulia Chechenyi seemed important,
08:31though I had no real idea how that fitted in.
08:34He talked to about an organisation called the Black Stone,
08:40and he described very particularly
08:42somebody that he never referred to without a shudder,
08:46an old man with a young voice
08:48who could hood his eyes like a hawk.
08:53The next day I went out to dinner
08:55and came back about half past ten.
08:58I had a cigar in my mouth, I remember,
09:00as I pushed open the smoking room door.
09:03The lights were not lit, which struck me as odd.
09:07I wondered if Scudder had turned in already.
09:10I snapped the switch, but there was nobody there.
09:13Then I saw something in the far corner
09:16which made me drop my cigar and fall into a cold sweat.
09:21My guest was lying sprawled on his back.
09:25There was a long knife through his heart
09:27which skewered him to the floor.
09:51I sat down in an armchair and felt very sick.
09:56Scudder's poor, staring, white face on the floor
09:59was more than I could bear,
10:00and I managed to get a tablecloth and cover it.
10:03Then I staggered to the cupboard,
10:05found the brandy, and swallowed several mouthfuls.
10:12I was in this soup.
10:13That was pretty clear.
10:15The men who knew what he knew had found him,
10:18but he had been in my apartment for four days
10:21and his enemies must have reckoned
10:22that he had confided in me.
10:25So I would be the next to go.
10:28It took me an hour or two to think this out.
10:30Scudder was gone,
10:32but he had taken me into his confidence
10:34and I was pretty well bound to carry on his work.
10:37I must vanish somehow
10:39and keep vanish till the end of the second week in June.
10:42Then I must somehow find a way
10:44to get in touch with the government people
10:46and tell them what Scudder had told me.
10:50My first job was to keep going for the next three weeks.
10:53I reckoned that two sets of people
10:55would be looking for me,
10:56Scudder's enemies,
10:57to put me out of existence,
10:59and the police who would want me for Scudder's murder.
11:04My notion was to get off to some wild district.
11:08I calculated that it would be less conspicuous
11:11to be a Scot
11:12and less in line with what the police might know of my past.
11:16I fixed on Galloway as the best place to go
11:18and a search informed me
11:20that a train left St Pancras at 7.10 the next morning.
11:24I went to bed and slept a troubled two hours.
11:28I got up at four and opened my bedroom shutters.
11:31I hunted out a well-used tweed suit
11:33and a pair of strong-nailed boots.
11:35I put my pipe in my pocket
11:37and filled my pouch from the tobacco jar on the table.
11:40As I poked into the tobacco jar,
11:43my fingers touched something hard
11:45and I drew out Scudder's little black pocketbook
11:47in which he was always scribbling.
11:50That seemed to me a good omen
11:52and I put it in my pocket.
11:55I lifted the tablecloth from the body
11:57and was amazed at the peace and dignity
11:59of the dead face.
12:03Goodbye, old chap, I said.
12:07I'm going to do my best for you.
12:11At first, I thought there was no one in the street.
12:14Then I caught sight of a policeman a hundred yards down
12:17and a loafer shuffling past on the other side.
12:20There was not a second to spare.
12:22As soon as I got to Euston Road,
12:23I took to my heels and ran.
12:25At St Pancras, I had no time to take a ticket.
12:28A porter told me the platform as I entered it.
12:30I saw the train already in motion.
12:32Two station officials blocked away,
12:34but I dodged them and clambered into the last carriage.
12:37Three minutes later,
12:39we were roaring through the northern tunnels
12:41and an irate guard interviewing me.
12:44He wrote out for me a ticket to Newton Stewart,
12:47a name which had suddenly come back into my memory,
12:49and conducted me to a third-class smoker
12:52occupied by a sailor
12:54and a lady with a child.
12:58He went off grumbling
12:59and as I mopped my brow,
13:01I observed to my companions in my broadest Scots
13:04that it was a sore job catching trains.
13:08The impotence of that, Gerd,
13:10said the lady bitterly.
13:12The sailor morosely agreed
13:14and I started my new life
13:15in an atmosphere of protest against authority.
13:19I had a solemn time travelling north that day.
13:23I got out Scudder's little black pocket book
13:26and studied it.
13:27It was pretty well filled with jottings,
13:29chiefly figures,
13:30though now and then a name was printed in.
13:32Now, I was certain that Scudder never did anything without a reason,
13:36and I was pretty sure that there was a cipher in all of this.
13:41I tried for hours,
13:42but none of the cipher revealed itself to me.
13:45Then I fell asleep and woke at Dumfries
13:48just in time to bundle out
13:49and get into a slow Galloway train.
13:53The only occupants of the carriage were an old shepherd and his dog,
13:57a wall-eyed brute that I mistrusted.
14:00My plan had been to get out at some quiet station down the line,
14:04but the train suddenly gave me a better chance,
14:07for it came to a standstill at the end of a rough, flowing river.
14:10I opened the door and dropped quickly into a tangle of hazels which edged the line.
14:17It would have been all right, but for that infernal dog.
14:22Under the impression that I was decamping with its master's belongings,
14:26it started to bark and all but got me by the trousers.
14:30This woke up the shepherd who stood bawling at the carriage door
14:34in the belief that I had committed suicide.
14:36I crawled past the stream and reached the cover of a thicket
14:40where I peered back and saw the guard and several passengers staring in my direction.
14:47I could not have made a more public departure
14:49if I had left with a bugler in a brass band.
14:54It was a gorgeous spring evening,
14:56with every hill showing as clear as cut amethyst.
15:00The air had the rooty smell of bogs,
15:03but it was as fresh as mid-ocean
15:04and had the strangest effect on my spirits.
15:08I might have been a boy out for a spring holiday tramp
15:11instead of a man, much wanted by the police.
15:15But then I saw that which set my pulses racing.
15:19Low down on the south was a monoplane,
15:22climbing into the heavens.
15:24I was certain that aeroplane was looking for me
15:27and that it did not belong to the police.
15:30I started to question my choice of the countryside as a hiding place.
15:37Presently, I reached a kind of pass
15:39where a solitary house smoked in the twilight.
15:42The road swung over a bridge
15:43and leaning on the parapet was a young man.
15:46He jumped around as my step rung on the keystone
15:49and I saw a pleasant, sunburnt, boyish face.
15:53Is that place an inn? I asked.
15:56At your service, he said politely.
15:59He gave me a room at the back of the house
16:01and the following day I began in real earnest
16:03to study Scudder's notebook.
16:05I'd worked out it was a numerical cipher
16:08and by an elaborate system of experiments
16:11I had pretty well discovered what were the nulls and the stops.
16:15The trouble was the key word
16:18and when I thought of the odd million words
16:21that he might have used
16:21I felt pretty hopeless.
16:24But about three o'clock I had a sudden inspiration.
16:27The name Julia Chechenyi
16:29flashed across my memory.
16:32Scudder had said it was the key
16:34to the Carolides business
16:35and it occurred to me to try it on his cipher.
16:39It worked.
16:41The five letters of Julia
16:43gave me the position of the vowels.
16:45A was J, the tenth letter of the alphabet
16:48and so represented by Roman numeral X in the cipher.
16:54E was U and so on.
16:58Chechenyi gave me the numerals
17:00for the principal consonants.
17:02I scribbled that scheme on a bit of paper
17:05and sat down to read Scudder's pages.
17:10In half an hour I was reading with a whitish face.
17:15I glanced out of the window
17:16and saw a big touring car
17:18coming up the glen towards the inn.
17:20Ten minutes later
17:21the innkeeper slipped into the room.
17:23There's two chaps below looking for you, he whispered.
17:26They're in the dining room
17:27having whiskies and sodas.
17:30My plan had been to lie hidden in my bedroom
17:32and chance my luck
17:33but now I had a better idea.
17:35I scribbled a line of thanks to my host
17:38opened the window
17:39and dropped quietly into a gooseberry bush.
17:42There stood the touring car
17:44very spick and span in the morning sunlight.
17:47I started her
17:48jumped into the chauffeur's seat
17:49and stole gently out onto the plateau.
17:52Almost at once the road dipped
17:54so that I lost sight of the inn
17:55but the wind seemed to bring me
17:57the sound of angry voices.
18:00You may picture me driving that car
18:03for all she was worth
18:04over the crisp moor road
18:05half dazed and anxious
18:07for I was thinking desperately
18:09of what I had found in Scudder's pocketbook.
18:12The whole story was in the notes.
18:14The story
18:16and one strange phrase
18:18which occurred half a dozen times
18:20inside brackets.
18:22Thirty-nine steps
18:23was the phrase
18:25and at its last time of use
18:27it ran
18:27Thirty-nine steps
18:30I counted them
18:31high tide
18:33ten seventeen p.m.
18:36I could make nothing of that.
18:39The first thing I learned
18:41was that there was no question
18:42of preventing a war.
18:44That was coming as sure as Christmas.
18:46Carolides was booked all right
18:48and was to hand in his cheques
18:49on June 14th.
18:51I gathered from Scudder's notes
18:53that nothing on earth
18:54could prevent that.
18:55The second thing
18:56was that this war
18:57was going to come
18:58as a mighty surprise to Britain.
19:01The third thing
19:02was that all this
19:04depended on a meeting
19:05which was due to happen
19:06on June 15th.
19:08A very important meeting
19:09between French and British officials
19:11was taking place
19:13in which Britain
19:14would give France
19:16a statement
19:16on the disposition
19:17of the home fleet
19:18to mobilise
19:19in the case of war.
19:22But on that same day
19:23there were to be
19:24others in London
19:25others
19:26whom Scudder called
19:28the Black Stone.
19:30They represented
19:31not our allies
19:32but our deadliest foes.
19:34A German spy organisation
19:36and the information
19:37destined for France
19:39was to be diverted
19:40to their pockets.
19:42And it was to be used
19:43a week or two later
19:44with great guns
19:46and swift torpedoes
19:47suddenly in the darkness
19:49of a summer night.
19:51War in Europe.
19:54It seemed impossible.
19:57Just then
19:58I heard a noise
19:59in the sky
20:00and lo and behold
20:01there was that
20:02infernal aeroplane
20:04rapidly coming towards me.
20:06Down the hill
20:07I went like blue lightning.
20:09Suddenly on my left
20:10I heard the hoot
20:10of another car.
20:12I did the only thing possible
20:13and ran slap
20:14into the hedge.
20:15The car slithered
20:17through the hedge
20:17like butter
20:18and then gave
20:18a sickening plunge forward.
20:20I leapt onto the seat
20:21and was saved
20:22by the branch
20:23of a hawthorn
20:24while a ton or two
20:25of expensive metal
20:26dropped
20:27with an almighty smash
20:28fifty feet
20:29to the bed of a stream.
20:31As I scrambled
20:32to my feet
20:33a hand
20:34took me by the arm
20:35and I found myself
20:37looking at a tall
20:38young man
20:39in goggles
20:39who kept
20:40whinnying apologies.
20:43He insisted
20:44on taking me
20:45to his house
20:45for a meal
20:46and a few minutes
20:47later we drew up
20:48before a comfortable
20:49looking shooting box
20:51set among pine trees.
20:53We had a hot supper
20:55and then drank grog
20:56in a big cheery
20:57smoking room
20:58with a crackling fire.
21:00He was a politician
21:01called Sir Harry
21:02and he talked
21:04endlessly
21:05and nonsensically
21:06about Britain
21:07and Germany
21:08and how the
21:10German menace
21:11was an invention
21:12made to oppress
21:12the British people.
21:14You could see
21:14the niceness
21:15of the chap
21:16shining out
21:16from behind the muck
21:17and I thought
21:18the time had come
21:19for me to put
21:19my cards on the table.
21:21Listen Sir Harry
21:22I said
21:22I have something
21:23pretty important
21:24to say to you.
21:25You're a good fellow
21:26and I'm going
21:27to be frank.
21:28Where on earth
21:29did you get
21:30all that rubbish?
21:32His face fell.
21:34I got most of it
21:35out of the
21:35progressive magazine
21:36but you surely
21:38don't think
21:38Germany would ever
21:40go to war with us?
21:42I'll ask that question
21:43in six weeks
21:44and it won't need
21:45an answer I said.
21:47If you'll give me
21:48your attention
21:49for half an hour
21:51I'm going to tell
21:52you a story.
22:17I can see yet
22:18that bright room
22:19with the deer heads
22:20on the walls
22:21Sir Harry standing
22:23on the stone curb
22:24of the hearth
22:24and myself
22:25lying back
22:26in the armchair
22:26speaking
22:28was the first time
22:30I had ever told
22:30anyone the exact truth
22:31and it did me
22:32no end of good.
22:35So you see
22:36I concluded
22:37you have got here
22:38in your house
22:39the man
22:40that is wanted
22:41for murder
22:41your duty
22:42is to send
22:43for the police
22:44and give me up
22:45I don't think
22:46I'll get very far
22:46there'll be an accident
22:48and I'll have a knife
22:49in my ribs
22:49in an hour or so
22:50after rest
22:52he watched me
22:53and with a smile
22:55you're no murderer
22:56and you're no fool
22:57and I believe
22:58you're speaking
22:58the truth
22:59I'm going to
23:00back you up
23:01now what can I do
23:03first
23:04I've got to get
23:05in touch
23:05with the government
23:06people
23:06sometime before
23:07the 15th of June
23:09he pulled his moustache
23:10I'll write to
23:11the permanent secretary
23:12at the foreign office
23:13he's my godfather
23:14and one of the best going
23:17he sat down
23:17at the table
23:18and wrote
23:18to my dictation
23:19the gist of it
23:20was that if a man
23:22turned up
23:22before June 15th
23:24he was to entreat him kindly
23:26the man would prove
23:28his bona fides
23:29by whistling
23:29Annie Laurie
23:31good
23:32said Sir Harry
23:32that's the proper style
23:34you'll find my godfather
23:36his name Sir Walter
23:37down at his country
23:38cottage on the Kennet
23:39now what's next
23:42hmm
23:44you're about my height
23:45lend me the oldest suit
23:47you've got
23:48anything will do
23:49so long as the colour
23:50is the opposite
23:50of the clothes
23:51I'm wearing now
23:52then show me a map
23:53of the neighbourhood
23:55the map
23:56gave me some notion
23:58of my whereabouts
23:59and told me
24:00the two things
24:00I wanted to know
24:01where the main railway
24:03to the south
24:04could be joined
24:04and what were the wildest
24:06districts near at hand
24:09by two o'clock
24:10in the morning
24:10I was pedalling
24:11diligently up
24:12steep roads
24:13of hill gravel
24:14till the skies
24:15grew pale
24:17as the mists
24:18cleared
24:18before the sun
24:19I found myself
24:21in a wide
24:21green world
24:22of glens
24:23falling on every side
24:26then
24:27I heard once again
24:29that ominous beat
24:30in the air
24:30and saw an aeroplane
24:32coming up
24:33from the east
24:33it flew very low
24:35and now the observer
24:36on board
24:37caught sight of me
24:38the next thing I knew
24:39he was speeding
24:40eastwards again
24:41till he became a speck
24:42in the blue morning
24:44my enemies
24:45had located me
24:48that made me do
24:49some savage thinking
24:51if you were hemmed in
24:52on all sides
24:53in a patch of land
24:54there's only one chance
24:55of escape
24:56you must stay
24:57in the patch
24:58and let your enemy
24:59search it
25:00and not find you
25:02that was good sense
25:03but how on earth
25:04was I to escape
25:05notice in that
25:07tablecloth
25:07of a place
25:09then
25:10on a tiny
25:11wisp of road
25:12beside a heap
25:13of stones
25:14I found the roadman
25:17he was a wild figure
25:19about my own size
25:20but much
25:21bent
25:21with a weak's beard
25:23on his chin
25:23and a pair
25:24of big horn spectacles
25:27he'd just arrived
25:28and was
25:29wearily
25:29flinging down
25:30his hammer
25:32confoon the day
25:33I ever left
25:34the herding
25:35he said
25:35as if to the world
25:36at large
25:37there I was
25:38my own maester
25:39now
25:40I'm a slave
25:41to the government
25:42tethered
25:43to the roadside
25:44I asked him
25:46what was the trouble
25:47the trouble is
25:49I'm no sober
25:51he moaned
25:52my doctor
25:54was married
25:54last night
25:55and me
25:55and some others
25:56sat down
25:57to the drinking
25:58it's easy speaking
26:00but I got a postcard
26:02yesterday
26:02saying that
26:03the new road surveyor
26:04would be round the day
26:07then I had an inspiration
26:09does the new surveyor
26:10know you
26:11I asked
26:12know him
26:13he's just been a week
26:14at the job
26:16well
26:16back to your bed
26:17I said
26:18and sleep in peace
26:19I'll take on your job
26:20for a bit
26:21and see the surveyor
26:22he stared at me
26:24blankly
26:24then
26:25as the notion
26:26dawned
26:26on his fuddled brain
26:28his face broke
26:29into the vacant
26:30drunkard smile
26:31you're the bully
26:33he cried
26:34it'll be easy enough
26:35manage
26:35take the barry
26:36and wheel enough
26:38metal fee
26:38beyond quarry
26:40down the road
26:40my name's
26:42Alexander Turnbull
26:43and I've been
26:44seven year
26:45at the trade
26:46I borrowed
26:47his spectacles
26:48and filthy old hat
26:49stripped off
26:50my jacket
26:51and waistcoat
26:51and gave him
26:52them to carry home
26:54he indicated
26:55my simple tasks
26:56and without more ado
26:57set off
26:58at an amble
26:59bedwards
27:02I remembered
27:03an old scout
27:03in Rhodesia
27:04called Peter Pina
27:06he was the best scout
27:07I ever knew
27:08and before he had
27:09turned respectable
27:10he had been pretty often
27:11on the windy side
27:12of the law
27:14Peter once discussed
27:15with me
27:15the question
27:16of disguises
27:17and he had a theory
27:18which struck me
27:19at the time
27:20he said
27:22barring absolute
27:23certainties
27:24like fingerprints
27:25mere physical traits
27:27were little used
27:28for identification
27:29if the fugitive
27:31really knew
27:31his business
27:32the only thing
27:34that mattered
27:35was what Peter
27:36called
27:36atmosphere
27:39if a man
27:41could get into
27:42perfectly different
27:43surroundings
27:43from those
27:44in which
27:45he had been
27:45first observed
27:46and
27:47this is the
27:48important part
27:49really play up
27:51to those surroundings
27:52and behave
27:53as if he had
27:53never been out
27:54of them
27:54he would puzzle
27:56the cleverest
27:57detectives
27:57on earth
27:59so
27:59so I shut off
28:01all other thoughts
28:02and made my mind
28:03dwell lovingly
28:04on sleep
28:05in a box bed
28:07suddenly
28:08a crisp voice
28:09spoke from the road
28:10and looking up
28:10I saw a little car
28:12and a round-faced
28:13young man
28:13in a bowler hat
28:14are you Alexander
28:16turnbull
28:16he asked
28:17I'm the new
28:18county road
28:18surveyor
28:19this is a fair
28:20bit of road
28:21turnbull
28:22and not badly
28:23engineered
28:24clearly my
28:25get up
28:25was good enough
28:26for the dreaded
28:27surveyor
28:28didn't linger
28:29I went on
28:31with my work
28:33just before
28:34midday
28:35a big car
28:36stole down
28:37the hill
28:38its three occupants
28:39descended
28:40as if to
28:41stretch their
28:42legs
28:42and sauntered
28:43towards me
28:44two of the men
28:45I had seen before
28:47from the window
28:47of the inn
28:48one lean and sharp
28:50the other
28:51comfortable
28:51and smiling
28:52the third
28:53had the look
28:54of a countryman
28:55a vet
28:56perhaps
28:57or a small farmer
28:59morning
28:59said the last
29:00that's a fine
29:01easy job of yours
29:03I had not
29:04looked up
29:04when they approached
29:05and now
29:06when accosted
29:08I slowly
29:09and painfully
29:10straightened
29:10my back
29:11spat vigorously
29:13and regarded
29:14them steadily
29:15before replying
29:18there's more jobs
29:19and there's better
29:20I said
29:21sententiously
29:22I would rather
29:24hae yours
29:24sitting o' day
29:26on your hinterlands
29:27and they cushions
29:28it's you
29:29and your
29:30muckle cores
29:31that wreck
29:31my roads
29:33again
29:34the sleek one
29:34addressed me
29:35did you see
29:36anyone pass
29:37early this morning
29:38he might be
29:38on a bicycle
29:39or he might
29:40be on foot
29:42I very nearly
29:43fell into the trap
29:44and told the story
29:45of a bicyclist
29:46hurrying past
29:47in the grey dawn
29:47but I had a sense
29:49to see my danger
29:50I pretended
29:51to consider
29:52very deeply
29:54hmm
29:56I wasnae up
29:57I wasnae up
29:57very early
29:58I said
29:59you see
30:00my doctor
30:01was married
30:02last night
30:03and we kept
30:03it up late
30:05I opened
30:06the house door
30:07about saving
30:08and there was
30:08nae body
30:09on the road
30:09since then
30:12hmm
30:12let us get on
30:14he said
30:16in German
30:17this fellow
30:18is alright
30:21one of them
30:22gave me a cigar
30:23which I smelt
30:24gingerly
30:24and stuck
30:25in Turnbull's bundle
30:26they got into their car
30:27and were out of sight
30:28in three minutes
30:29my heart
30:30leaped
30:31with an enormous relief
30:32but I went on
30:33wheeling my stones
30:35it was as well
30:36for ten minutes later
30:38the car returned
30:39one of the occupants
30:40waving a hand
30:41to me
30:42those gentry
30:43left nothing to chance
30:47I stayed in my post
30:48till five o'clock
30:50by that time
30:51I had resolved
30:52to take my chance
30:53of getting over the hills
30:54in the darkness
30:56I spent the night
30:57on a shelf
30:57on the hillside
30:58it was a cold business
31:00for I had neither
31:01jacket nor waistcoat
31:03they were in the roadman's keeping
31:05as was Scudder's little book
31:06my watch
31:07and worst of all
31:08my pipe and tobacco pouch
31:11I woke
31:12very cold and stiff
31:14about an hour
31:14after dawn
31:15raised myself up
31:17in my arms
31:17and looked down
31:19into the valley
31:19and that one look
31:21set me lacing up
31:22my boots
31:22in mad haste
31:24for there were men below
31:25spaced out
31:26on the hillside
31:26like a fan
31:27and beating the heather
31:29I put on a great spurt
31:31and got off my ridge
31:32and down
31:33into the moor
31:33I crossed the stream
31:35and came out
31:36on a high road
31:36which made a pass
31:37between two fields
31:39after a few hundred yards
31:41the grass stopped
31:42and it became
31:43a respectable road
31:45clearly it ran to a house
31:47and I began to think
31:48of doing the same
31:50hitherto my luck
31:51had held
31:51and it might be
31:52that my best chance
31:54would be found
31:54in this remote dwelling
31:56I stalked over the border
31:58of coarse hill gravel
32:00and entered the open
32:01veranda door
32:04within
32:05was a pleasant room
32:07with a knee-hole desk
32:08in the middle
32:09and seated at it
32:10a benevolent
32:12old gentleman
32:15you seem in a hurry
32:17my friend
32:18he said slowly
32:20his fingers
32:21tapping lightly
32:22on his knees
32:24I nodded
32:25towards the window
32:26it gave a prospect
32:28across the moor
32:29and revealed
32:29certain figures
32:30straggling through
32:31the heather
32:32ah I see
32:34he said
32:34a fugitive
32:36from justice
32:37eh
32:38well
32:38we'll go into it
32:40at our leisure
32:41meantime
32:42I object
32:42to my privacy
32:43being broken in upon
32:45by the clumsy
32:46rural
32:47policeman
32:48go into my study
32:50and you will see
32:51two doors
32:51facing you
32:52take the one
32:53on the left
32:53and close it
32:54behind you
32:55you will be
32:56perfectly safe
32:59and this
33:00extraordinary
33:00man
33:01took up
33:02his pen again
33:03I did as I was bid
33:04and found myself
33:05in a little
33:06dark chamber
33:07which
33:07smelled of chemicals
33:10the door
33:10had swung behind me
33:12with a click
33:12like the door
33:13of a safe
33:15once again
33:16I had found
33:16unexpected sanctuary
33:18all the same
33:19I was not
33:20comfortable
33:21there was
33:22there was something
33:23about the old gentleman
33:25which
33:26puzzled
33:26and
33:27rather terrified me
33:29he had been
33:30too easy
33:31and ready
33:31almost as if
33:32he had expected me
33:33and his eyes
33:34had been horribly
33:35intelligent
33:37then there was
33:38a click
33:38and the door
33:39stood open
33:39I emerged
33:40into the sunlight
33:41to find the master
33:42of the house
33:43sitting in a deep
33:44armchair
33:44in the room
33:45he called his study
33:46and regarding me
33:47with curious eyes
33:50they have gone
33:51I convinced them
33:53that you have
33:53crossed the hill
33:54this
33:55is a lucky
33:56morning
33:56for you
33:57Mr. Richard
33:58Hannay
33:59as he spoke
34:00his eyelids
34:02seemed to tremble
34:03and to
34:03fall a little
34:05over his keen
34:06grey eyes
34:07and a flash
34:08the phrase of Scudders
34:10came back to me
34:10when he had described
34:11the man he most dreaded
34:13in the world
34:13he had said
34:14that he could
34:15hood his eyes
34:16like a hawk
34:18I saw that
34:19I had walked
34:20straight into
34:21the enemy's headquarters
34:23Carl
34:24he spoke
34:24a German
34:25to a man
34:25in the doorway
34:26you will put
34:27this fellow
34:27in the storeroom
34:28and you will be
34:29answerable to me
34:29for his keeping
34:31I was marched
34:32out of the room
34:33with a pistol
34:34at each ear
34:50the storeroom
34:52was as black
34:52as pitch
34:53but the windows
34:54were heavily shuttered
34:57I sat down
34:58in that chilly
34:58darkness
34:59in a very
34:59miserable frame
35:00of mind
35:01I tried the shutters
35:03but they were the kind
35:04that locked with a key
35:04and I couldn't move them
35:06but as I circumnavigated
35:08the room
35:09I found the door
35:10of a wall cupboard
35:11what they call
35:12a press in Scotland
35:15there was a multitude
35:16of odd things there
35:17I found a match or two
35:19in my trouser pockets
35:20and struck a light
35:21it was out in a second
35:23but it showed me enough
35:25there were a box
35:26of detonators
35:27and a lot of
35:28cord for fuses
35:29and inside a cardboard box
35:32lay half a dozen
35:33little grey bricks
35:37I hadn't been a mining engineer
35:38for nothing
35:39and I knew Lintonite
35:40when I saw it
35:42after that
35:43I sat down to think
35:45it was a mighty risk
35:49but against it
35:50was an absolute certainty
35:55the remembrance of Scudder
35:57decided me
35:58I got a detonator
35:59and fixed it
36:00to a couple of feet
36:01of fuse
36:01then I took a quarter
36:03of a Lintonite brick
36:04and buried it
36:05in a crack in the floor
36:07I ensconced myself
36:08just below the sill
36:09of the window
36:10and lit the fuse
36:12there was a dead silence
36:13only a shuffle
36:14of heavy boots
36:15in the passage
36:17I commended my soul
36:18to my maker
36:19and wondered where
36:20I would be
36:20in five seconds
36:24a great wave
36:26of heat
36:27seemed to surge
36:27upwards
36:28from the floor
36:29and hang
36:30for a blistering instant
36:31in the air
36:33then I think
36:34I became unconscious
36:35but my stupor
36:36can only have lasted
36:37beyond a few seconds
36:40I felt myself
36:41being choked
36:42by thick yellow fumes
36:43and staggered
36:44blindly away
36:45from the house
36:46the storeroom
36:47was in ruins
36:48and my captors
36:49were for now
36:50out cold
36:51on the ground
36:53I saw on the far side
36:54of the house
36:55stood an old stone
36:56dovecot
36:56I figured my captors
36:58would look for me
36:59on the moor
36:59so I got to the back
37:01of the dovecot
37:01and prospected
37:02a way of ascent
37:05that was the hardest
37:06job I had ever
37:07taken on
37:08my shoulder
37:09and arms
37:10ached like hell
37:11and I was
37:11so sick
37:13and giddy
37:13that I was always
37:14on the verge
37:14of falling
37:15but
37:16I managed it
37:17somehow
37:19all that long
37:20blistering afternoon
37:22I laid baking
37:23on the dovecot
37:24rooftop
37:26thirst was my
37:27chief tormentor
37:28my tongue was like
37:29a stick
37:30and by night time
37:31the thirst was too
37:32great to allow me
37:33to tarry
37:34I started to descend
37:36halfway down
37:37I heard the back door
37:38of the house open
37:39and saw
37:39the gleam of a lantern
37:41against the mill wall
37:43then the light
37:44disappeared
37:45and I dropped
37:45as softly
37:46as I could
37:47onto the hard
37:47soil of the yard
37:48ten minutes later
37:50I was in a little
37:51field with my face
37:52in the spring
37:53soaking down
37:54pints of the
37:55blessed water
37:57my plan
37:58was to seek
37:59the roadman's cottage
38:00recover my garments
38:01and especially
38:02Scudder's notebook
38:03and then make
38:04for the train station
38:06seemed to me
38:07the sooner
38:07I got in touch
38:08with Sir Walter
38:09the better
38:11I pass over
38:13the miseries
38:13of that night
38:14among the wet hills
38:15there were no stars
38:16to steer by
38:17and I had to do
38:18the best I could
38:19from my memory
38:19of the map
38:20twice I lost my way
38:22and had some
38:22nasty falls
38:23into peat bogs
38:25the last bit
38:26the last bit was
38:26completed with
38:27set teeth
38:28and a very light
38:29and dizzy head
38:30but I managed it
38:32and in the early dawn
38:33I was knocking
38:34at the roadman's door
38:36Turnbull
38:37the roadman himself
38:38opened it to me
38:39and before I knew
38:41he was helping me off
38:42with my clothes
38:43and putting me to bed
38:44in one of the
38:44two cupboards
38:45that lined the kitchen walls
38:50he was a true friend
38:51in need
38:51that old roadman
38:54for the better part
38:55of ten days
38:56he did all the rough
38:57nursing I needed
38:57never even sought
38:59my name
39:01on the twelfth day
39:02of June
39:02I judged myself
39:03well enough
39:04to leave Turnbull's
39:05care
39:06a cattle truck
39:07two trains
39:08and a night
39:08at a humble inn
39:09later
39:10I was walking
39:11in a land
39:12of lush water
39:13meadows
39:13and slow
39:15reedy streams
39:17I fell to whistling
39:19as I looked
39:19into the soothing
39:20green depths
39:21and the tune
39:22which came to my lips
39:23was Annie Laurie
39:34A fisherman
39:35came up
39:36from the water side
39:37and as he neared me
39:38he too began
39:39to whistle
39:41he nodded to me
39:42and I thought
39:43I had never seen
39:44a shrewder
39:45her better tempered face
39:48that's my house
39:49he said
39:49pointing to a white gate
39:51a hundred yards on
39:52go around
39:53to the back door
39:55I did as I was bidden
39:57I found a pretty cottage
39:59with a perfect jungle
40:00of lilac
40:01flanking the path
40:02I made my way inside
40:04and sat down
40:04in a chintz covered chair
40:07the fisherman
40:08identified himself
40:09with Sir Walter
40:11he believed in me
40:12the why
40:13why he did
40:14I could not guess
40:15I knew I looked
40:17a wild
40:18haggard
40:18and filthy fellow
40:21when Sir Walter
40:22appeared
40:22having changed
40:23out of his fisherman's
40:24garbs
40:24and into a suit
40:25the sight of him
40:26so respectable
40:27and secure
40:28the embodiment
40:29of law
40:30and government
40:30made me feel
40:32even more
40:32of an interloper
40:36I told him the story
40:37from start to finish
40:39and if there was ever
40:40any doubt in his mind
40:41after listening to me
40:43it was ended
40:45when the butler
40:46entered the room
40:48there's been a trunk call
40:49Sir Walter
40:50said the butler
40:52Carol Edis
40:53has been shot dead
40:54this evening
40:54at a few minutes
40:56after seven
41:00you would think
41:01I would have slept
41:02uneasily
41:03but the comfortable bed
41:04and the newfound ally
41:05in Sir Walter
41:06did me no end of good
41:08I came down to breakfast
41:10next morning
41:10after eight hours
41:11of blessed dreamless sleep
41:13to find Sir Walter
41:14decoding a telegram
41:15in the midst of
41:16muffins and marmalade
41:19I had a busy hour
41:20on the telephone
41:21after you went to bed
41:22he said
41:23I got my chief
41:24to speak to the first
41:25sea lord
41:26of the secretary for war
41:27and they are bringing
41:28Royer the French official
41:29over a day sooner
41:31he will be in London
41:32at five
41:35we made our way
41:36to London
41:37in Sir Walter's car
41:38it was a soft
41:40breathless June morning
41:41with a promise
41:42of sultriness later
41:44I felt curiously
41:46at a loose end
41:47at first it was
41:48very pleasant
41:49to be a free man
41:50able to go
41:50where I wanted
41:51without feeding anything
41:52but by dinner time
41:54an abominable
41:55restlessness
41:56had taken possession
41:57of me
41:58seemed as if a voice
41:59kept speaking in my ear
42:01telling me to be up
42:02and doing
42:03the upshot was
42:04at about half past nine
42:06I made my way
42:06to Sir Walter's London
42:07house and Queen Anne's gate
42:09I found myself
42:10in the foyer
42:11supervised under
42:12the stern eye
42:13of the butler
42:13who had informed me
42:15Sir Walter was
42:15otherwise engaged
42:18I hadn't waited long
42:19till the butler
42:20let in another visitor
42:22while he was
42:23taking off his coat
42:24I saw who it was
42:27he couldn't open
42:28a magazine
42:28or a newspaper
42:29without seeing that face
42:31the grey beard
42:32cut like a spade
42:33the firm fighting mouth
42:35and the keen blue eyes
42:36the first sea lord
42:38Sir Aloha
42:40he passed my alcove
42:42and was ushered
42:42into a room
42:43at the back of the hall
42:45then as time
42:46crept on
42:47to half past ten
42:48the door
42:49of the back room
42:50opened
42:50and the first sea lord
42:51came out again
42:54he woke past me
42:56and in passing
42:57he glanced
42:57in my direction
42:59and for a second
43:01we looked at each other
43:03in the face
43:04only for a second
43:06but it was enough
43:07to make my heart jump
43:10I had never seen
43:11the great man before
43:12and he had never seen
43:13me
43:13but in that fraction
43:15of time
43:15something sprang
43:16into his eyes
43:17you can't mistake it
43:18it's a flicker
43:19a spark of light
43:20a minute shade
43:22of difference
43:22which means one thing
43:24and one thing only
43:26recognition
43:27not a moment
43:28could be lost
43:29so I marched boldly
43:30to the door
43:30of the back room
43:31and entered
43:31without knocking
43:32five surprised faces
43:34looked up
43:35from round the table
43:36there was Sir Walter
43:37and four others
43:38who I recognised
43:39from the papers
43:39the war minister
43:41the admiralty official
43:42general with Stanley
43:43and a short stout man
43:45with bushy eyebrows
43:48Royer
43:49the French official
43:50Sir Walter's face
43:52showed surprise
43:53and annoyance
43:55this is Mr. Hannay
43:56whom I have spoken
43:57to you
43:57he said apologetically
43:59to the company
44:00I'm afraid Hannay
44:01this visit is ill-timed
44:04I was getting back
44:05my coolness
44:06that remains
44:08that remains to be seen
44:08sir
44:09I said
44:09but I think
44:10I may be
44:10in the nick of time
44:12for God's sake
44:13gentlemen
44:13tell me
44:14who went out here
44:14a minute ago
44:15Lord Allower
44:16Sir Walter said
44:18reddening with anger
44:19it was not
44:20I cried
44:21it was his living image
44:22it was not
44:23Lord Allower
44:24it was someone
44:25who recognised me
44:26someone I have seen
44:27in the last month
44:28a member
44:30of the Black Stone
44:48Sir Walter got up
44:49and left the room
44:50while we looked
44:50blankly at the table
44:53he came back
44:54in ten minutes
44:54with a long face
44:56I have spoken to Allower
44:57he said
44:58had him out of bed
44:59very grumpy
45:00he's been at home
45:01all afternoon
45:02ill
45:03but it's madness
45:04broke in general
45:05Winstanley
45:05do you mean to tell me
45:07that another man
45:07came here
45:08and I didn't detect
45:09the imposter
45:09don't you see
45:10the cleverness of it
45:11I said
45:12you took Lord Allower
45:13for granted
45:14it was natural
45:15for him to be here
45:16and that put you all
45:17to sleep
45:19then the Frenchman
45:20spoke very slowly
45:21and in good English
45:22the young man
45:23is right
45:24his psychology
45:25is good
45:26and another thing
45:27must be said
45:28I talked freely
45:30when that man
45:31was here
45:31I told him
45:32something of the
45:33military plans
45:34of my government
45:36that information
45:37would be worth
45:37many millions
45:38to our enemies
45:40my friends
45:41I see no other way
45:43the man who came here
45:45and his confederates
45:46must be taken
45:47and taken at once
45:48these men
45:50must not cross
45:51the sea
45:54Royer's grave
45:55good sense
45:56seemed to pull
45:56us all together
45:58he was the man
45:59of action
45:59among the fumblers
46:01but I saw no hope
46:02in any face
46:03and I felt none
46:04but where among
46:05the fifty million
46:06of these ports
46:07and within a dozen
46:08hours were we
46:09to lay hands
46:09on the three
46:10cleverest rogues
46:11in Europe
46:12then
46:13suddenly I remembered
46:14Scudder's notebook
46:16thirty-nine steps
46:17I shouted
46:18thirty-nine steps
46:19I counted them
46:20high tide
46:21ten seventeen
46:22p.m.
46:25the gentleman
46:25regarded me
46:26nonplussed
46:27don't you see
46:28it's a clue
46:30Scudder knew
46:30where these fellows
46:31were going to leave
46:31the country
46:32though he kept
46:32the name to himself
46:34tomorrow was the day
46:35and it was some place
46:36where the high tide
46:37was at ten seventeen
46:38where the devil
46:39can I get a book
46:39of tide tables
46:41a book was procured
46:43and we scoured it
46:45there were hundreds
46:46of entries
46:47and so as far as I could see
46:49ten seventeen
46:50might cover fifty places
46:54here's the most I can make
46:55of it I said
46:57we have got to find a place
46:58where there are several
47:00staircases down to the beach
47:02one of which has thirty-nine steps
47:05I think it's a place
47:07of open coast
47:08with biggish cliffs
47:09somewhere between
47:10the wash and the channel
47:11also
47:12it's a place
47:13where full tide
47:14is at ten seventeen
47:15tomorrow night
47:18around one in the morning
47:19a man by the name
47:21of Scaife
47:21who had been in the navy
47:23was summoned
47:23and he proclaimed
47:24Bradgate
47:25a big chalk headland
47:27in Kent
47:27to be the most likely place
47:29as it had villas
47:30with staircases
47:31down to a private beach
47:33I tore open
47:34the tide tables
47:35and found Bradgate
47:37high tide there
47:38was at ten seventeen
47:39p.m.
47:39on the fifteenth of June
47:43a pink and blue
47:44June morning
47:45found me
47:46at Bradgate
47:46with Scaife
47:48we got from a house agent
47:49a key for the gates
47:50of the staircases
47:51I walked with them
47:52along the sands
47:53and waited
47:54in a nook
47:55of the cliffs
47:57when Scaife returned
47:59I could tell you
48:00my heart was in my mouth
48:01he read aloud
48:02the number of the steps
48:03of the different stairs
48:04forty-two
48:06forty-seven
48:07thirty-five
48:08twenty-nine
48:10and thirty-nine
48:12I almost got up
48:14and shouted
48:15we hurried back
48:16to the town
48:16and sent a wire
48:17for half a dozen men
48:19after lunch
48:19I saw the thing
48:20I had hoped for
48:21and had dreaded to miss
48:22a yacht
48:23came up from the south
48:24and dropped anchor
48:25pretty well opposite
48:26the house
48:27with thirty-nine steps
48:28which Scaife
48:30had discovered
48:30belonged to a Mr Appleton
48:33a retired stockbroker
48:35then I set to
48:36watching the house
48:38two figures
48:39were having a game
48:40of tennis
48:41one was an old man
48:43the other
48:44was a younger fellow
48:46wearing club colours
48:48they played
48:49with tremendous zest
48:50like two city gents
48:52who wanted hard exercise
48:53to open their paws
48:55presently
48:56a third fellow arrived
48:57a young man
48:58with a bag of golf clubs
48:59slung on his back
49:00he strolled round
49:02to the tennis lawn
49:03and was welcomed
49:04riotously by the players
49:05they all went into the house
49:07and left me feeling
49:08a precious idiot
49:10these men might be acting
49:12but if they were
49:14where was their audience
49:15they didn't know
49:17I was sitting
49:17thirty yards off
49:18in a rhododendron
49:19it was simply impossible
49:21to believe
49:22that these hearty fellows
49:23were anything
49:24but what they seemed
49:25three ordinary
49:26game-playing
49:27suburban Englishmen
49:29but suddenly
49:30I remembered
49:31old Peter Pina
49:32and how only
49:33one thing mattered
49:34in the game
49:35of disguises
49:36atmosphere
49:38the recollection
49:39of Peter's talk
49:40gave me the first
49:41real comfort
49:41that I had had
49:42that day
49:43Peter had been
49:44a wise old bird
49:45and these fellows
49:46I were after
49:46were about the pick
49:47of the aviary
49:48what if they were
49:49playing Peter's game
49:52Scaife's men
49:53would be in place
49:54by now
49:54but there was
49:55no sign
49:55of a soul
49:56the house
49:57stood as open
49:58as a marketplace
49:59for anybody
49:59to observe
50:02feeling the greatest
50:03fool on earth
50:04I opened the gate
50:05and rang the bell
50:07the old man's manner
50:08was perfect
50:11did you wish
50:11to see me
50:12he said
50:13hesitatingly
50:14though I hadn't
50:15an ounce of confidence
50:16in me
50:16I forced myself
50:17to play the game
50:18I think we've met
50:20before I said
50:20and I guess
50:21you know my business
50:23maybe
50:24maybe
50:24said the old man
50:25I haven't
50:26a very good memory
50:28by now
50:29the other two
50:30had gathered around him
50:31curiously
50:32while I made
50:33nothing of it
50:34one was bold
50:36and old
50:37one was stout
50:38one was
50:39dark and thin
50:40there was nothing
50:42in appearance
50:42to prevent them
50:44being the three
50:44who had hunted me
50:45in Scotland
50:46but there was nothing
50:46to identify them
50:48well then I said
50:49and all the time
50:50I seemed to be
50:51talking
50:52pure foolishness
50:53to myself
50:54I have come to tell you
50:55that the game's up
50:56I have a warrant
50:57for the arrest
50:58of you three gentlemen
51:00arrest
51:00said the old man
51:01and he looked
51:02really shocked
51:03arrest
51:03good god
51:04what for
51:05for the murder
51:06of Franklin Scudder
51:07in London
51:08on the 23rd day
51:09of last month
51:11after that
51:12for a minute
51:12there was utter silence
51:14the old man
51:15was staring at me
51:16the very model
51:17of innocent bewilderment
51:19do you propose
51:20to march us
51:21off to the police station
51:22asked the plump one
51:23I have the right
51:24to ask to see
51:25your warrant
51:26but I don't wish
51:27to cast aspersions
51:28upon you
51:29we are only
51:30doing your duty
51:32but you'll admit
51:33it's horribly awkward
51:35meantime
51:36I vote
51:37we have a game
51:38of bridge
51:38we've been wanting
51:39a fourth player
51:40do you play sir
51:43I accepted
51:44as if it had been
51:46an ordinary invitation
51:47at the club
51:48the whole business
51:50had mesmerised me
51:52we went into
51:53the smoking room
51:54where a card table
51:55was set out
51:56I took my place
51:57at the table
51:58in a kind of dream
52:00the window was open
52:01and the moon
52:02was flooding
52:03the cliffs and sea
52:04with a great tide
52:05of yellow light
52:06then
52:08something awoke me
52:10the old man
52:11laid down his hand
52:12to light a cigar
52:13he didn't pick it up
52:14at once
52:14but sat back
52:15for a moment
52:16in his chair
52:16with his fingers
52:18tapping on his knees
52:21it was the movement
52:22I remembered
52:22when I had stood
52:23before him
52:24in the moorland farm
52:25with the pistols
52:26of the servants
52:27behind me
52:27a little thing
52:28lasting only a second
52:29and the odds
52:30were a thousand to one
52:31that I might have had
52:32my eyes on my cards
52:33at the time
52:34and missed it
52:34but I didn't
52:35and in a flash
52:36the air seemed to clear
52:38some shadow
52:40lifted from my brain
52:41and the three faces
52:42seemed to change
52:43before my eyes
52:44and reveal their secrets
52:45the young one
52:46was the murderer
52:47his knife
52:48I felt certain
52:49had skewered
52:50Scudder to the floor
52:51his kind
52:52had put the bullet
52:53in Carolides
52:54the plump man's features
52:56seemed to form again
52:57as I looked at them
52:58he hadn't a face
53:00only a hundred masks
53:01that he could assume
53:02when he pleased
53:03but the old man
53:05was the pick of the lot
53:07he was sheer brain
53:09icy
53:11cool
53:12calculating
53:13as ruthless
53:14as a steam hammer
53:16and now that my eyes
53:18were opened
53:18I wondered where
53:19I had seen the benevolence
53:21I blew my whistle
53:22and in an instant
53:23the lights were out
53:24schnell France
53:25cried a voice
53:26das bolt
53:27das bolt
53:27as it spoke
53:29I saw two of Scaife's fellows
53:30emerge on the moonlit lawn
53:32the young dark man
53:34leapt for the window
53:34and was through it
53:35and over the low fence
53:36before a hand could touch him
53:37I grappled the old chap
53:39and the room
53:39seemed to fill with figures
53:41suddenly my prisoner
53:43broke from me
53:43and flung himself
53:44on the wall
53:45there was a click
53:46as if a lever
53:47had been pulled
53:48then came a low
53:49rumbling
53:50far far below the ground
53:51and through the window
53:52I saw a cloud
53:53of chalk dust
53:54pouring out of the shaft
53:56and the stairway
53:58someone switched on the light
53:59the old man
54:01was looking at me
54:02with blazing eyes
54:03he is safe
54:04he cried
54:06you cannot follow in time
54:08he is gone
54:09the black stone
54:10will triumph
54:11their schwarze stein
54:13is in their siegeskron
54:18there were more
54:19in those eyes
54:20than any common triumph
54:21they had been
54:23hooded
54:24like the bird of a prey
54:25and now they flamed
54:26with a hawk's pride
54:29a white
54:30fanatic heat
54:31burned in them
54:32and I realised
54:34for the first time
54:35the terrible thing
54:36that I had been up against
54:37this man
54:38was more than a spy
54:41in his
54:42foul way
54:44he had been a patriot
54:47as the handcuffs
54:49clinked on his wrists
54:50I said my last words
54:52to him
54:53I hope France
54:55will bear his triumph
54:56well
54:57I ought to tell you
54:58that your yacht
54:59for the last hour
55:01has been in our hands
55:08seven weeks later
55:10as all the world knows
55:12we went to war
55:15I joined the army
55:16in the first week
55:17and owing to my experience
55:18got a captain's commission
55:19straight off
55:23but
55:31but I had done
55:32my best service
55:33I think
55:35before I put on
55:36khaki
55:36inspired by
55:39I
55:41which
55:43knew
55:43I
56:01he
56:02but
56:02me
56:02I
56:05and
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