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The Read S04E03 The 39 Steps The Read with John Hannah
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00:02See you next time.
00:38I 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 has been left
00:53standing in the sun.
00:54And Richard Hanni, I kept telling myself, you have got yourself into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had
01:01better climb 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.
01:19So England was a sort of Arabian Nights to me.
01:21And 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.
01:58He seemed honest at least, but I gathered that they hated him pretty deeply in Berlin 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?
02:32He said.
02:32May 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.
02:47It's a mighty liberty, but you look the kind of man who would understand.
02:51Say, will you do me a good turn?
02:52I'll listen to you, I said.
02:54That'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 whiskey.
03:05He drank it off in three gulps and cracked the glass as he set it down.
03:09Pardon me, he said.
03:10I'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?
03:21I 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 and then started on the most bizarre rigmarole I had ever
03:54heard.
03:56Here's the gist of it.
03:58He was an American from Kentucky, involved in politics, and I took him for a sharp, restless fellow who always
04:04wanted to get down to the roots of things and 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, engineered 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, but that
04:34beside 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 him myself, for I was getting interested in the beggar.
04:51So I said, why 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, and 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, and the biggest of them is due on that
05:31date.
05:33Carolides will be murdered then, and 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 alive
05:45right 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, and 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, but I had heard in my time many steep tales which turned out
06:12to be true,
06:12and I had made a practice of judging the man rather than the story.
06:18Once I'd discovered this plot, said Scudder, I realized that there was only one way to put my pursuers to
06:24sleep.
06:25I had to die.
06:28I told the man that valets me that I was feeling pretty bad, and got myself up to look like
06:32death.
06:33Then I got a corpse, you can always get a body in London, and made it up to look like
06:38me.
06:39The jaw was the weak point in the likeness, so I blew it away with a revolver.
06:44I watched from my window till I saw you come home, and then I slipped down the stair to meet
06:48you.
06:48And now, all I need is to stay dead until the 15th of June.
06:56I thought for an instant or two.
06:59Right. I'll trust you for the night. Just one word, Mr. Scudder.
07:04I believe you're an honest man, but if you're not, I should warn you that I'm a handyman with a
07:09gun.
07:10I made him up a bed in my smoking room and sought my own couch, more cheerful than I had
07:15been for the past month.
07:17Things did happen occasionally, even in this God-forgotten metropolis.
07:23They found Scudder's corpse the following day.
07:27Caused a huge commotion in the building. Suicide, they reckoned.
07:30This cheered Scudder up no end, and the first two days he stayed with me in that back room, he
07:35was very peaceful.
07:37He read and smoked a bit, made a heap of jottings in a black notebook.
07:42And every night we had a game of chess, at which he beat me hollow.
07:47But on the third day, I could see he was beginning to get restless.
07:51Say, Hanny, he said, I 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, I was more interested in his own adventures than in his high politics.
08:14I remember that he was very clear that the danger to Karolides would not begin till he had got to
08:20London,
08:20and would come from the very highest quarters, where there would be no thought of suspicion.
08:27The name, Julia Chechenyi, seemed important, though 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 somebody that he never referred to without a shudder.
08:46An old man with a young voice who could hood his eyes like a hawk.
08:53The next day I went out to dinner and came back about half past ten.
08:58I had a cigar in my mouth, I remember, as 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 which 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, which 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 was more than I could bear,
10:00and I managed to get a tablecloth and cover it.
10:04Then I staggered to the cupboard, found 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, but he had been in my apartment for four days,
10:21and his enemies must have reckoned that he had confided in me, so I would be the next to go.
10:28It took me an hour or two to think this out.
10:30Scudder was gone, but he had taken me into his confidence, and I was pretty well bound to carry on
10:36his work.
10:37I must vanish somehow, and keep vanish till the end of the second week in June.
10:42Then I must somehow find a way to get in touch with the government people and tell them what Scudder
10:47had told me.
10:50My first job was to keep going for the next three weeks.
10:53I reckoned that two sets of people would be looking for me, Scudder's enemies, to put me out of existence,
11:00and 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 to 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,
11:19and a search informed me that 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 and a pair of strong-nailed boots.
11:35I put my pipe in my pocket and filled my pouch from the tobacco jar on the table.
11:41As I poked into the tobacco jar, my fingers touched something hard,
11:45and I drew out Scudder's little black pocketbook, in which he was always scribbling.
11:50That seemed to me a good omen, and I put it in my pocket.
11:54I lifted the tablecloth from the body and was amazed at the peace and dignity of the dead face.
12:04Goodbye, 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, I 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 the way,
12:34but I dodged them and clambered into the last carriage.
12:37Three minutes later, we were roaring through the northern tunnels,
12:41an 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,
12:50and conducted me to a third-class smoker,
12:52occupied by a sailor and a lady with a child.
12:58He went off grumbling,
12:59and as I mopped my brow, I observed to my companions in my broadest Scots
13:04that it was a sore job catching trains.
13:08The impotence of that, Gerd, said the lady bitterly.
13:12The sailor morosely agreed,
13:14and I started my new life in 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 and 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, but none of the cipher revealed itself to me.
13:45Then I fell asleep and woke at Dumfries,
13:48just in time to bundle out and 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.
14:11I 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 if I had left with a bugler in a brass band.
14:54It was a gorgeous spring evening, with every hill showing as clear as cut amethyst.
15:00The air had the rooty smell of bogs, but 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 instead of a man,
15:12much wanted by the police.
15:15But then I saw that which set my pulses racing.
15:19Low down on the south was a monoplane climbing into the heavens.
15:24I was certain that aeroplane was looking for me and 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 where a solitary house smoked in the twilight.
15:42The road swung over a bridge and, leaning on the parapet, was a young man.
15:46He jumped around as my step rung on the keystone,
15:50and I saw a pleasant, sunburnt, boyish face.
15:53Is that place an inn, I asked?
15:55At 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 to 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 that he might have used,
16:22I felt pretty hopeless.
16:23But about three o'clock, I had a sudden inspiration.
16:27The name Julia Chechenyi flashed across my memory.
16:32Scudder had said it was the key to the Carolides business,
16:36and it occurred to me to try it on his cipher.
16:39It worked.
16:41The five letters of Julia gave me the position of the vowels.
16:45A was J, the tenth letter of the alphabet,
16:49and so represented by Roman numeral X in the cipher.
16:54E was U, and so on.
16:58Chechenyi gave me the numerals for 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 coming up the glen towards the inn.
17:20Ten minutes later, the innkeeper slipped into the room.
17:23There's two chaps below looking for you, he whispered.
17:26They're in the dining room having whiskeys and sodas.
17:30My plan had been to lie hidden in my bedroom and 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 and 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, jumped into the chauffeur's seat
17:49and stole gently out onto the plateau.
17:52Almost at once the road dipped so that I lost sight of the inn,
17:55but the wind seemed to bring me the sound of angry voices.
18:00You may picture me driving that car for all she was worth
18:04over the crisp moor road, half-dazed and anxious,
18:07for I was thinking desperately of what I had found in Scudder's pocketbook.
18:12The whole story was in the notes.
18:15The story, and one strange phrase which occurred half a dozen times,
18:20inside brackets,
18:2239 steps was the phrase.
18:25And at its last time of use it ran,
18:2839 steps, I counted them,
18:32high tide, 10.17pm.
18:36I could make nothing of that.
18:39The first thing I learned was that there was no question of preventing a war.
18:44That was coming as sure as Christmas.
18:46Carol Eadies was booked all right
18:48and was to hand in his checks on June 14th.
18:51I gathered from Scudder's notes that nothing on earth could prevent that.
18:55The second thing was that this war
18:57was going to come as a mighty surprise to Britain.
19:01The third thing was that all this depended on a meeting
19:05which was due to happen on June 15th.
19:08A very important meeting between French and British officials was taking place
19:13in which Britain would give France a statement
19:16on the disposition of the home fleet to mobilize in the case of war.
19:22But on that same day, there were to be others in London,
19:26others whom Scudder called the Black Stone.
19:30They represented not our allies, but our deadliest foes.
19:34A German spy organization.
19:36And the information destined for France
19:39was to be diverted to their pockets.
19:42And it was to be used a week or two later
19:44with great guns and swift torpedoes
19:47suddenly in the darkness of a summer night.
19:51War in Europe.
19:54It seemed impossible.
19:57Just then, I heard a noise in the sky
20:00and lo and behold, there was that infernal aeroplane
20:04rapidly coming towards me.
20:06Down the hill I went like blue lightning.
20:09Suddenly on my left, I heard the hoot of another car.
20:12I did the only thing possible and ran slap into the hedge.
20:15The car slithered through the hedge like butter
20:18and then gave a sickening plunge forward.
20:20I leapt onto the seat and was saved by the branch of a hawthorn
20:24while a ton or two of expensive metal dropped
20:27with an almighty smash, 50 feet to the bed of a stream.
20:31As I scrambled to my feet, a hand took me by the arm
20:36and I found myself looking at a tall young man in goggles
20:40who kept whinnying apologies.
20:43He insisted on taking me to his house for a meal
20:46and a few minutes later we drew up
20:48before a comfortable-looking shooting box set
20:51among pine trees.
20:53We had a hot supper and then drank grog
20:56in a big cheery smoking room with a crackling fire.
21:00He was a politician called Sir Harry
21:02and he talked endlessly and nonsensically
21:06about Britain and Germany
21:08and how the German menace was an invention
21:12made to oppress the British people.
21:14You could see the niceness of the chap
21:16shining out from behind the muck
21:17and I thought the time had come for me
21:19to put my cards on the table.
21:21Listen, Sir Harry, I said,
21:22I've something pretty important to say to you.
21:25You're a good fellow
21:26and I'm going to be frank.
21:28Where on earth did you get all that rubbish?
21:32His face fell.
21:34I got most of it out of the progressive magazine.
21:36But you surely don't think Germany
21:39would ever go to war with us?
21:42I'll ask that question in six weeks
21:44and it won't need an answer, I said.
21:47If you'll give me your attention for half an hour,
21:51I'm going to tell you a story.
22:17I can see yet that bright room
22:19with the deer heads on the walls.
22:22Sir Harry standing on the stone curb of the hearth
22:24and myself lying back in the armchair speaking.
22:28It was the first time I had ever told anyone the exact truth
22:32and it did me no end of good.
22:35So you see, I concluded,
22:37you have got here in your house
22:39the man that is wanted for murder.
22:42Your duty is to send for the police and give me up.
22:45I don't think I'll get very far.
22:47There'll be an accident
22:48and I'll have a knife in my ribs in an hour or so after arrest.
22:52He watched me and with a smile,
22:55you're no murderer and you're no fool
22:57and I believe you're speaking the truth.
22:59I'm going to back you up.
23:01Now what can I do?
23:03First, I've got to get in touch with the government people
23:06sometime before the 15th of June.
23:09He pulled his moustache.
23:11I'll write to the permanent secretary at the foreign office.
23:13He's my godfather and one of the best going.
23:17He sat down at the table and wrote to my dictation.
23:20The gist of it was that if a man turned up before June 15th,
23:24he was to entreat him kindly.
23:26The man would prove his bona fides by whistling Annie Laurie.
23:31Good, said Sir Harry.
23:33That's the proper style.
23:34You'll find my godfather, his name Sir Walter,
23:38down at his country cottage on the Kennet.
23:40Now what's next?
23:42Hmm.
23:44You're about my height.
23:46Lend me the oldest suit you've got.
23:48Anything will do, so long as the colour is the opposite of the clothes I'm wearing now.
23:52Then show me a map of the neighbourhood.
23:55The map gave me some notion of my whereabouts
23:59and told me the two things I wanted to know.
24:02Where the main railway to the south could be joined
24:05and what were the wildest districts near at hand.
24:09By two o'clock in the morning,
24:10I was pedalling diligently up steep roads of hill gravel
24:14till the skies grew pale.
24:17As the mists cleared before the sun,
24:20I found myself in a wide green world of glens,
24:23falling on every side.
24:27Then, I heard once again that ominous beat in the air
24:30and saw an aeroplane coming up from the east.
24:34It flew very low,
24:35and now the observer on board caught sight of me.
24:38The next thing I knew, he was speeding eastwards again
24:41till he became a speck in the blue morning.
24:44My enemies had located me.
24:48That made me do some savage thinking.
24:51If you are hemmed in on all sides in a patch of land,
24:54there's only one chance of escape.
24:56You must stay in the patch
24:58and let your enemies search it and not find you.
25:02That was good sense,
25:04but how on earth was I to escape notice
25:06in that tablecloth of a place?
25:10Then, on a tiny wisp of road
25:12beside a heap of stones,
25:15I found the roadman.
25:17He was a wild figure,
25:19about my own size,
25:20but much bent,
25:22with a weak's beard on his chin
25:23and a pair of bighorn spectacles.
25:27He'd just arrived
25:28and was wearily flinging down his hammer.
25:32Confoon the day I ever left the herding,
25:35he said as if to the world at large.
25:37There I was my own maester.
25:39Now I'm a slave to the government.
25:42Tethered to the roadside.
25:45I asked him what was the trouble.
25:48The trouble is,
25:50I'm no sober,
25:52he moaned.
25:53My doctor was married last night
25:55and me and some others
25:56sat down to the drinking.
25:58It's easy speaking,
26:00but I got a postcard yesterday
26:02saying that the new road surveyor
26:04would be round the day.
26:07Then I had an inspiration.
26:09Does the new surveyor know you?
26:11I asked.
26:12Know him?
26:13He's just been a week at the job.
26:16Well, back to your bed,
26:18I said,
26:18and sleep in peace.
26:19I'll take on your job for a bit
26:21and see the surveyor.
26:23He stared at me blankly.
26:25Then,
26:25as the notion dawned
26:26on his fuddled brain,
26:28his face broke
26:29into the vacant drunkard's smile.
26:32You're the bully,
26:33he cried.
26:34It'll be easy enough,
26:35manage.
26:36Take the barry
26:37and wheel enough metal fee
26:39beyond quarry
26:40down the road.
26:41My name's Alexander Turnbull
26:43and I've been seven year
26:45at the trade.
26:47I borrowed his spectacles
26:48and filthy old hat,
26:50stripped off my jacket
26:51and waistcoat
26:51and gave him them
26:52to carry home.
26:54He indicated my simple tasks
26:56and, without more ado,
26:57set off at an amble bedwards.
27:02I remembered an old scout
27:03in Rhodesia
27:04called Peter Pinyar.
27:06He was the best scout
27:08I ever knew
27:08and before he had turned respectable
27:10he had been pretty often
27:11on the windy side of the law.
27:14Peter once discussed with me
27:15the question of disguises
27:17and he had a theory
27:18which struck me at the time.
27:20He said,
27:22barring absolute certainties
27:24like fingerprints,
27:26mere physical traits
27:27were little used
27:28for identification
27:29if the fugitive
27:31really knew his business.
27:33The only thing that mattered
27:35was what Peter called
27:37atmosphere.
27:39If a man could get into
27:42perfectly different surroundings
27:44from those in which
27:45he had been first observed
27:46and,
27:47and this is the important part,
27:50really play up
27:51to those surroundings
27:52and behave as if
27:53he had never been out of them,
27:55he would puzzle
27:56the cleverest detectives
27:57on earth.
27:59So,
28:00I 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 Turnbull?
28:16he asked.
28:17I'm the new county road surveyor.
28:19This is a fair bit of road,
28:21Turnbull,
28:22and not badly engineered.
28:24Clearly my get-up
28:25was good enough
28:26for the dreaded surveyor
28:28didn't linger.
28:30I went on with my work.
28:33Just before midday,
28:35a big car
28:36stole down the hill.
28:38Its three occupants
28:39descended
28:40as if to
28:41stretch their legs
28:42and sauntered
28:43towards me.
28:45Two of the men
28:46I had seen before
28:47from the window
28:47of the inn,
28:48one lean and sharp,
28:50the other comfortable
28:51and smiling.
28:52The third
28:53had the look
28:54of a countryman,
28:55a vet perhaps,
28:57or a small farmer.
28:59Morning,
29:00said the last.
29:00That's a fine,
29:01easy job of yours.
29:03I had not looked up
29:04when they approached
29:05and now,
29:07when accosted,
29:08I slowly
29:09and painfully
29:10straightened my back,
29:11spat vigorously
29:13and regarded them
29:15steadily
29:15before replying.
29:18There's more jobs
29:19and there's better,
29:20I said sententiously.
29:23I would rather
29:24hae yours
29:24sitting o' day
29:26on your hinterlands
29:27than they cushions.
29:28It's you
29:29and your muckle cores
29:31that wreck my roads.
29:33Again,
29:34the sleek one
29:34addressed me.
29:35Did you see anyone
29:37pass early this morning?
29:38He might be on a bicycle
29:39or he might be 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,
29:48but I had a sense
29:49to see my danger.
29:50I pretended
29:51to consider
29:52very deeply.
29:54Hmm.
29:56I was nae up
29:57very early,
29:58I said.
29:59You see,
30:00my doctor
30:01was married
30:02last night
30:03and we kept it up late.
30:05I opened
30:06the house door
30:07about saving
30:08and there was
30:08nae body
30:09on the road
30:10since then.
30:12Hmm.
30:13Let us get on,
30:15he said
30:16in German.
30:18This fellow
30:18is all right.
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.
30:37For ten minutes later
30:38the car returned,
30:39one of the occupants
30:40waving a hand to 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
30:54the hills
30:54in the darkness.
30:56I spent the night
30:57on a shelf
30:57on the hillside.
30:59It was a cold business
31:00for I had neither jacket
31:01nor waistcoat.
31:03They were in the roadman's keeping
31:05as was Scudder's
31:06little book,
31:07my watch
31:07and worst of all
31:08my pipe and tobacco pouch.
31:11I woke
31:12very cold and stiff
31:14about an hour
31:15after dawn
31:15and raised myself
31:17up in my arms
31:18and looked down
31:19into the valley
31:19and that one look
31:21set me lacing up
31:22my boots
31:22in mad haste
31:23for there were men below
31:25spaced out
31:26on the hillside
31:27like a fan
31:27and beating the heather.
31:30I put on
31:30a great spurt
31:31and got off
31:32my ridge
31:32and down
31:33into the moor.
31:34I crossed a 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
31:45it ran to a house
31:47and I began
31:47to think
31:48of doing the same.
31:50Hitherto
31:50my luck had held
31:51and it might be
31:52that my best chance
31:54would be found
31:54in this remote dwelling.
31:55I stalked over the border
31:58of coarse hill gravel
32:00and entered
32:01the open veranda door.
32:04Within
32:04was a pleasant room
32:07with a knee-hole desk
32:08in the middle
32:09and seated at it
32:10a benevolent
32:13old gentleman.
32:15You seem in a hurry
32:17my friend
32:18he said
32:19slowly
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.
32:35A fugitive
32:36from justice
32:37eh?
32:38Well
32:39we'll go into it
32:40at our leisure.
32:41Meantime
32:42I object
32:43to my privacy
32:44being broken in upon
32:45by the clumsy
32:46rural policeman.
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 would
33:04bid and found
33:05myself in a little
33:06dark chamber
33:07which
33:07smelled of
33:08chemicals.
33:10The door
33:10had swung
33:11behind 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
33:23something about
33:24the old gentleman
33:25which puzzled
33:27and rather
33:28terrified me.
33:29He had been
33:30too easy
33:31and ready
33:31almost as if
33:32he had expected
33:33me
33:33and his eyes
33:34had been horribly
33:35intelligent.
33:37Then there was a
33:38click and the door
33:39stood open.
33:40I emerged
33:41into 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
33:46study
33:46and regarding
33:47me with
33:48curious eyes.
33:50They have
33:51gone.
33:51I convinced
33:53them that you
33:53have crossed
33:53the hill.
33:54This is a
33:56lucky morning
33:56for you
33:57Mr. Richard
33:58Hannay.
33:59as he spoke
34:01his eyelids
34:02seemed to
34:02tremble
34:03and to
34:03fall a little
34:05over his
34:05keen grey
34:06eyes
34:07and a flash
34:08the phrase of
34:09Scudders came
34:10back to me
34:10when he had
34:11described the
34:12man he most
34:12dreaded in the
34:13world.
34:14He had said
34:14that he could
34:15hood his
34:16eyes like a
34:17hawk.
34:19I saw that I
34:20had walked
34:20straight into
34:21the enemy's
34:21headquarters.
34:23Carl, he
34:24spoke a
34:24German to
34:25a man in
34:26the doorway,
34:26you will put
34:27this fellow in
34:27the storeroom
34:28and you will
34:28be answerable
34:29to me for
34:30his keeping.
34:31I was
34:32marched out
34:33of the room
34:33with a pistol
34:34at each ear.
34:51The storeroom
34:52was as black
34:52as pitch
34:53for the
34:54windows were
34:55heavily
34:55shuttered.
34:57I sat down
34:58in that chilly
34:58darkness in a
34:59very miserable
35:00frame of mind.
35:02I tried the
35:03shutters but
35:03they were the
35:03kind that
35:04lock with a
35:04key and I
35:05couldn't move
35:05them.
35:06But as I
35:07circumnavigated
35:08the room I
35:09found the
35:10door of a
35:10wall cupboard,
35:11what they call
35:12a press in
35:13Scotland.
35:15There was a
35:15multitude of
35:16odd things
35:16there.
35:17I found a
35:18match or two
35:19in my trouser
35:19pockets and
35:20struck a
35:20light.
35:20it was out
35:22in a second
35:23but it
35:24showed me
35:24enough.
35:25There were a
35:26box of
35:26detonators and
35:27a lot of
35:28cord for
35:29fuses and
35:30inside a
35:31cardboard box
35:32lay half a
35:33dozen little
35:33grey brakes.
35:34bricks.
35:37I hadn't been a
35:38mining engineer
35:38for nothing and
35:39I knew
35:39lintonite when
35:40I saw it.
35:42After that I
35:43sat down to
35:43think.
35:45There was a
35:46mighty risk.
35:49But against it
35:50was an absolute
35:51certainty.
35:55The remembrance
35:56of Scudder
35:57decided me.
35:58I got a
35:59detonator and
36:00fixed it to a
36:00couple of feet
36:01to fuse.
36:02Then I took a
36:03quarter of a
36:04lintonite brick
36:04and buried it
36:05in a crack in
36:06the floor.
36:07I ensconced
36:08myself just
36:09below the sill
36:09of the window
36:10and lit the
36:10fuse.
36:12There was a
36:12dead silence.
36:14Only a
36:14shuffle of
36:15heavy boots
36:15in the passage.
36:17I commended my
36:18soul to my
36:19maker and
36:19wondered where
36:20I would be
36:20in five
36:21seconds.
36:24A great
36:25wave of
36:26heat seemed
36:27to surge
36:28upwards from
36:28the floor
36:29and hang
36:30for a
36:30blistering
36:31instant in
36:32the air.
36:33Then I
36:34think I
36:34became
36:34unconscious.
36:35But my
36:36stupor can
36:37only have
36:37lasted
36:37beyond a
36:38few seconds.
36:40I felt
36:41myself being
36:41choked by
36:42thick yellow
36:43fumes and
36:43staggered
36:44blindly away
36:45from the
36:45house.
36:46The storeroom
36:47was in ruins
36:48and my
36:48captors were
36:49for now
36:50out cold
36:51on the
36:51ground.
36:53I saw
36:53on the
36:54far side
36:54of the
36:54house
36:55stood an
36:55old stone
36:56dovecot.
36:56I figured
36:57my captors
36:58would look
36:58for me
36:59on the
36:59moor so
37:00I got
37:00to the
37:01back of
37:01the
37:01dovecot
37:02and
37:02prospected
37:02a way
37:03of
37:03ascent.
37:05That was
37:05the hardest
37:06job I
37:07had ever
37:07taken on.
37:08My
37:09shoulder
37:09and arms
37:10ached
37:10like hell
37:11and I
37:11was so
37:12sick and
37:13giddy that
37:13I was
37:13always on
37:14the verge
37:14of falling
37:15but I
37:17managed
37:17it somehow.
37:19All
37:20that long
37:21blistering
37:21afternoon
37:22I laid
37:22baking
37:23on the
37:23dovecot
37:24rooftop.
37:26Thirst
37:27was my
37:27chief
37:27tormentor.
37:28My tongue
37:29was like a
37:29stick and by
37:30night time
37:31the thirst
37:31was too
37:32great to
37:32allow me
37:33to tarry.
37:34I started
37:35to descend.
37:36Halfway down
37:37I heard the
37:37back door of the
37:38house open
37:39and saw the
37:40gleam of a
37:40lantern against
37:41the mill
37:42wall.
37:43Then the light
37:44disappeared and
37:45I dropped as
37:46softly as I could
37:47onto the hard
37:47soil of the
37:48yard.
37:49Ten minutes
37:50later I was
37:51in a little
37:51field with my
37:52face in the
37:52spring soaking
37:54down pints of
37:55the blessed
37:55water.
37:57My plan was
37:59to seek the
37:59roadman's
38:00cottage,
38:01recover my
38:01garments and
38:02especially Scudder's
38:02notebook and
38:04then make for
38:04the train
38:05station.
38:06It seemed to
38:07me the sooner
38:07I got in
38:08touch with
38:08Sir Walter
38:09the better.
38:11I pass over
38:13the miseries of
38:13that night among
38:14the wet hills.
38:15There were no
38:16stars to steer
38:17by and I had
38:18to do the best
38:18I could from
38:19my memory of
38:20the map.
38:20Twice I lost
38:21my way and had
38:22some nasty
38:23falls into
38:24peat bogs.
38:25The last bit
38:26was completed
38:27with set teeth
38:28and a very
38:29light and
38:29dizzy head but
38:31I managed it
38:32and in the
38:33early dawn it
38:33was knocking
38:34at the
38:34roadman's
38:35door.
38:36Turnbull,
38:37the roadman
38:38himself,
38:38opened it to
38:39me and before
38:40I knew he was
38:41helping me off
38:42with my clothes
38:43and putting me
38:43to bed in one
38:44of the two
38:45cupboards that
38:45lined the kitchen
38:46walls.
38:50He was a true
38:51friend in need,
38:51that old roadman.
38:54For the better
38:55part of ten days
38:56he did all the
38:56rough nursing I
38:57needed,
38:58never even
38:59sought my name.
39:01On the twelfth day
39:02of June I judged
39:03myself well enough
39:04to leave Turnbull's
39:05care.
39:06A cattle truck,
39:07two trains and a
39:08night at a humble
39:09inn later.
39:09winter, I was
39:11walking in a land
39:12of lush water
39:13meadows and
39:14slow reedy
39:15streams.
39:17I fell to
39:19whistling as I
39:19looked into the
39:20soothing green
39:20depths and the
39:22tune which came
39:22to my lips was
39:24Annie Laurie.
39:34A fisherman came
39:36up from the
39:36water side and
39:37as he neared me
39:38he too began to
39:39whistle.
39:41He nodded to me
39:42and I thought I
39:44had never seen a
39:45shrewder or better
39:46tempered face.
39:48That's my house,
39:49he said, pointing to
39:50a white gate a
39:51hundred yards on.
39:52go round to the
39:53back door.
39:55I did as I was
39:57bidden.
39:57I found a pretty
39:58cottage with a
39:59perfect jungle of
40:00lilac flanking the
40:01path.
40:02I made my way
40:03inside and sat
40:04down in a
40:05chintz-covered
40:05chair.
40:07The fisherman
40:08identified himself
40:09with Sir Walter.
40:11He believed in
40:12me, though why
40:13he did I could
40:15not guess.
40:16I knew I looked
40:17a wild, haggard
40:19and filthy fellow.
40:21When Sir Walter
40:22appeared, having
40:23changed out of his
40:24fisherman's garbs and
40:24into a suit, the
40:26sight of him, so
40:27respectable and
40:28secure, the
40:28embodiment of law
40:30and government, made
40:32me feel even more of
40:33an interloper.
40:36I told him the
40:37story from start to
40:38finish, and if there
40:40was ever any doubt in
40:41his mind after
40:42listening to me, it
40:44was ended when the
40:45butler entered the
40:46room.
40:48There's been a
40:48trunk call, Sir
40:49Walter, said the
40:50butler.
40:52Carolides has been
40:53shot dead this
40:54evening, at a few
40:55minutes after seven.
41:00You would think I
41:01would have slept
41:02uneasily, but the
41:04comfortable bed and
41:05the newfound ally in
41:06Sir Walter did me no
41:07end of good.
41:08I came down to
41:09breakfast next morning
41:10after eight hours of
41:11blessed dreamless sleep
41:13to find Sir Walter
41:14decoding a telegram in
41:16the midst of muffins
41:17and marmalade.
41:19I had a busy hour on
41:21the telephone after
41:21you went to bed, he
41:22said.
41:23I got my chief to
41:24speak to the first
41:25sea lord of the
41:26secretary for war, and
41:27they are bringing
41:28Royer, the French
41:29official, over a day
41:30sooner.
41:31He will be in London
41:32at five.
41:35We made our way to
41:36London in Sir Walter's
41:37car.
41:38It was a soft,
41:40breathless June
41:41morning, with a
41:42promise of
41:43sultryness later.
41:45I felt curiously at a
41:46loose end.
41:47At first it was very
41:48pleasant to be a free
41:49man, able to go where
41:50I wanted without fearing
41:52anything, but by
41:53dinner time an abominable
41:55restlessness had taken
41:57possession of me.
41:58It seemed as if a voice
42:00kept speaking in my ear,
42:01telling me to be up and
42:02doing.
42:03The upshot was that at
42:05about half past nine I
42:06made my way to Sir
42:07Walter's London house and
42:08Queen Anne's gate.
42:09I found myself in the
42:11foyer, supervised under the
42:12stern eye of the
42:13butler, who had informed
42:14me Sir Walter was
42:15otherwise engaged.
42:18I hadn't waited long till
42:20the butler had let in
42:21another visitor.
42:22While he was taking off
42:23his coat, I saw who it
42:25was.
42:27He couldn't open a
42:28magazine or a newspaper
42:29without seeing that face,
42:31the grey beard cut like a
42:33spade, the firm fighting
42:34mouth and the keen blue
42:36eyes.
42:37The first sea lord,
42:39Sir Alloa.
42:40He passed my alcove and
42:42was ushered into a room
42:43at the back of the
42:44hall.
42:45Then, as time crept on to
42:47half past ten, the door of
42:49the back room opened and the
42:51first sea lord came out
42:52again.
42:54He walked past me, and in
42:56passing he glanced in my
42:58direction, and for a second
43:01we looked at each other in the
43:03face.
43:04Only for a second, but it was
43:07enough to make my heart jump.
43:10I had never seen the great
43:11man before, and he had never
43:13seen me, but in that fraction
43:15of time something sprang into
43:16his eyes.
43:17You can't mistake it.
43:18It's a flicker, a spark of
43:20light, a minute shade of
43:22difference which means one
43:23thing and one thing only.
43:26Recognition.
43:28Not a moment could be lost,
43:29so I marched boldly to the
43:30door of the back room and
43:31entered without knocking.
43:33Five surprised faces looked up
43:35from round the table.
43:36There was Sir Walter and four
43:38others who I recognized from
43:39the papers.
43:40The war minister, the
43:41admiralty official, General
43:42Wood Stanley, and a short,
43:45stout man with bushy eyebrows.
43:48Royer, the French official.
43:51Sir Walter's face showed
43:53surprise and annoyance.
43:55This is Mr. Hannay whom I have
43:56spoken to you, he said
43:58apologetically to the company.
44:00I'm afraid, Hannay, this visit
44:02is ill-timed.
44:04I was getting back my coolness.
44:07That remains to be seen, sir,
44:09I said, but I think I may be in
44:11the nick of time.
44:12For God's sake, gentlemen, tell
44:14me, who went out here a minute
44:15ago?
44:16Lord Alloa, Sir Walter said,
44:18reddening with anger.
44:19It was not, I cried.
44:21It was his living image.
44:22It was not Lord Alloa.
44:24It was someone who recognized
44:26me, someone I have seen in
44:28the last month.
44:29A member of the Black Stone.
44:48So Walter got up and left the
44:50room while we looked blankly at
44:51the table.
44:53He came back in ten minutes
44:54with a long face.
44:56I have spoken to Alloa, he said.
44:58Had him out of bed very grumpy.
45:00He's been at home all afternoon,
45:02ill.
45:03But it's madness, broke in
45:05General Winstanley.
45:06Do you mean to tell me that
45:07another man came here and I
45:08didn't detect the imposter?
45:10Don't you see the cleverness of
45:11it, I said?
45:12You took Lord Alloa for granted.
45:14It was natural for him to be
45:16here and that put you all to sleep.
45:19Then the Frenchman spoke very
45:20slowly and in good English.
45:23The young man is right.
45:24His psychology is good.
45:26And another thing must be said.
45:28I talked freely when that man
45:31was here.
45:32I told him something of the
45:33military plans of my government.
45:36That information would be worth
45:38many millions to our enemies.
45:40My friends, I see no other way.
45:43The man who came here and his
45:46confederates must be taken and
45:47taken at once.
45:49These men must not cross the sea.
45:54Royer's grave good sense seemed to
45:56pull us all together.
45:58He was the man of action among the
45:59fumblers.
46:01But I saw no hope in any face and I
46:03felt none.
46:05But where among the fifty million of
46:06these ports and within a dozen
46:08hours were we to lay hands on the
46:10three cleverest rogues in Europe?
46:13Then, suddenly I remembered Scudder's
46:15notebook.
46:16Thirty-nine steps, I shouted.
46:18Thirty-nine steps.
46:20I counted them.
46:21High tide.
46:22Ten-seventeen p.m.
46:24The gentleman regarded me nonplussed.
46:27Don't you see?
46:28It's a clue.
46:30Scudder knew where these fellows were
46:31going to leave the country, though he
46:32kept the name to himself.
46:34Tomorrow was the day and it was
46:35some place where the high tide was at
46:37ten-seventeen.
46:38Where the devil can I get a book of
46:40tide tables?
46:41A book was procured and we scoured it.
46:45There were hundreds of entries and so
46:47as far as I could see, ten-seventeen
46:50might cover fifty places.
46:54Here's the most I can make of it, I
46:56said.
46:57We have got to find a place where
46:59there are several staircases down to
47:01the beach, one of which has thirty-nine
47:04steps.
47:06I think it's a place of open coast with
47:08biggish cliffs, somewhere between the
47:10wash and the channel.
47:11Also, it's a place where full tide is at
47:14ten-seventeen tomorrow night.
47:18Around one in the morning, a man by the
47:20name of Scaife, who had been in the
47:22navy, was summoned and he proclaimed
47:24Bradgate, a big chalk headland in Kent, to
47:28be the most likely place as it had villas
47:30with staircases down to a private beach.
47:33I tore open the tide tables and found
47:35Bradgate.
47:37High tide there was at ten-seventeen
47:39p.m. on the fifteenth of June.
47:43A pink and blue June morning found me at
47:46Bradgate with Scaife.
47:48We got from a house agent a key for the
47:50gates of the staircases.
47:51I walked with them along the sands and
47:54waited in a nook of the cliffs.
47:57When Scaife returned, I could tell you my
48:00heart was in my mouth.
48:01He read aloud the number of the steps of
48:04the different stairs.
48:05Forty-two, forty-seven, thirty-five, twenty-nine
48:10and thirty-nine.
48:12I almost got up and shouted.
48:15We hurried back to the town and sent a
48:17wire for half a dozen men.
48:19After lunch, I saw the thing I had hoped
48:21for and had dreaded to miss.
48:23A yacht came up from the south and dropped
48:25anchor pretty well opposite the house with
48:27thirty-nine steps, which Scaife had discovered
48:30belonged to a Mr. Appleton, a retired stockbroker.
48:35Then I set to watching the house.
48:38Two figures were having a game of tennis.
48:42One was an old man.
48:44The other was a younger fellow wearing club
48:46colours.
48:48They played with tremendous zest, like two
48:51city gents who wanted hard exercise to open
48:53their paws.
48:55Presently, a third fellow arrived, a young
48:58man with a bag of golf clubs slung on his
49:00back.
49:01He strolled round to the tennis lawn and was
49:03welcomed riotously by the players.
49:06They all went into the house and left me
49:08feeling a precious idiot.
49:10These men might be acting, but if they were,
49:14where was their audience?
49:16They didn't know I was sitting thirty yards off
49:18in a rhododendron.
49:19It was simply impossible to believe that these
49:23hearty fellows were anything but what they
49:24seemed, three ordinary game-playing suburban
49:28Englishmen.
49:29But suddenly I remembered old Peter Pina, and
49:33how only one thing mattered in the game of
49:35disguises, atmosphere.
49:38The recollection of Peter's talk gave me the
49:41first real comfort that I had had that day.
49:43Peter had been a wise old bird, and these
49:46fellows I were after were about the pick of the
49:47Avery, what if they were playing Peter's game?
49:52Scaife's men would be in place by now, but there
49:55was no sign of a soul.
49:57The house stood as open as a marketplace for
49:59anybody to observe.
50:02Feeling the greatest fool on earth, I opened the
50:05gate and rang the bell.
50:07The old man's manner was perfect.
50:11Did you wish to see me, he said, hesitatingly, though I
50:15hadn't an ounce of confidence in me.
50:17I forced myself to play the game.
50:19I think we've met before, I said, and I guess you
50:21know my business.
50:23Maybe, maybe, said the old man.
50:26I haven't a very good memory.
50:28By now the other two had gathered around him,
50:31curiously.
50:33While I made nothing of it.
50:34One was bold and old, one was stout, one was dark and thin.
50:41There was nothing in appearance to prevent them being the
50:44three who had hunted me in Scotland, but there was nothing
50:46to identify them.
50:48Well then, I said, and all the time I seemed to be talking
50:52pure foolishness to myself.
50:54I have come to tell you that the game's up.
50:56I have a warrant for the arrest of you three gentlemen.
51:00Arrest, said the old man, and he looked really shocked.
51:03Arrest, good God, what for?
51:05For the murder of Franklin Scudder in London on the
51:08twenty-third day of last month.
51:11After that, for a minute, there was utter silence.
51:14The old man was staring at me, the very model of innocent
51:18bewilderment.
51:19Do you propose to march us off to the police station?
51:22Asked the plump one.
51:24I have the right to ask to see your warrant, but I don't wish
51:27to cast aspersions upon you.
51:29We are only doing your duty.
51:32But you'll admit it's horribly awkward.
51:36Meantime, I vote we have a game of bridge.
51:38We've been wanting a fourth player.
51:40Do you play, sir?
51:43I accepted.
51:45As if it had been an ordinary invitation at the club.
51:48The whole business had mesmerised me.
51:53We went into the smoking room where a card table was set out.
51:56I took my place at the table in a kind of dream.
52:00The window was open, and the moon was flooding the cliffs and sea with a great tide of yellow light.
52:07Then, something awoke me.
52:10The old man laid down his hand to light a cigar.
52:13He didn't pick it up at once, but sat back for a moment in his chair with his fingers,
52:18tapping on his knees.
52:21It was the movement I remembered when I had stood before him in the moorland farm,
52:25with the pistols of the servants behind me, a little thing lasting only a second,
52:29and the odds were a thousand to one that I might have had my eyes on my cards at the
52:33time and missed it.
52:34But I didn't, and in a flash the air seemed to clear.
52:38Some shadow lifted from my brain, and the three faces seemed to change before my eyes and reveal their secrets.
52:46The young one was the murderer.
52:48His knife, I felt certain, had skewered Scudder to the floor.
52:51His kind had put the bullet in Carolides.
52:54The plump man's features seemed to form again as I looked at them.
52:58He hadn't a face, only a hundred masks that he could assume when he pleased.
53:04But the old man was the pick of the lot.
53:06But he was sheer brain, icy, cool, calculating, as ruthless as a steam hammer.
53:17Now that my eyes were opened, I wondered where I had seen the benevolence.
53:21I blew my whistler, and in an instant the lights were out.
53:24Schnell, Franz, cried a voice.
53:26Das Boot, das Boot!
53:28As it spoke, I saw two of Scaife's fellows emerge on the moonlit lawn.
53:32The young, dark man leapt for the window and was through it and over the low fence before a hand
53:37could touch him.
53:38I grappled the old chap, and the room seemed to fill with figures.
53:42Suddenly my prisoner broke from me and flung himself on the wall.
53:45There was a click as if a lever had been pulled.
53:48Then came a low rumbling far, far below the ground.
53:52Through the window, I saw a cloud of chalk dust pouring out of the shaft in the stairway.
53:58Someone switched on the light.
53:59The old man was looking at me with blazing eyes.
54:03He is safe, he cried.
54:06You cannot follow in time.
54:08He is gone.
54:09The black stone will triumph.
54:12Der Schwarzer Stein ist in der Sieger's Krone.
54:18There were more in those eyes than any common triumph.
54:22They had been hooded like the bird of a prey, and now they flamed with a hawk's pride.
54:29A white, fanatic heat burned in them, and I realised for the first time the terrible thing that I had
54:36been up against.
54:38This man was more than a spy.
54:41In his foul way, he had been a patriot.
54:48As the handcuffs clinked on his wrists, I said my last words to him.
54:53I hope France will bear his triumph well.
54:57I ought to tell you that your yacht, for the last hour, has been in our hands.
55:08Seven weeks later, as all the world knows, we went to war.
55:15I joined the army in the first week, annoying to my experience, got a captain's commission straight off.
55:31But I had done my best service, I think, before I put on khaki.
55:38I'll see you then.
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