前言

秘方简介

常用词列表

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

CHAPTER SIX

The Adventure of the Bald Archaeologist

I spent spend the night on a shelf 架子 of the hill‧side 山坡, in the lee of a boulder 漂砾 where the heather 石南属 grew grow long and soft. It was a cold business, for I had neither coat nor waist‧coat 腰‧上衣. These were in Mr Turnbull's keeping, as was Scudder's little book, my watch and— worst 生病:ill of all—my pipe 管子 and tobacco 烟草 pouch 袋. Only my money accompanied 陪 me in my belt 腰带, and about half a pound of ginger 生姜 biscuits 饼干 in my trousers 长裤 pocket 口袋.

I supped SUP off half those biscuits 饼干, and by worming 虫 myself 我 deep into the heather 石南属 got some kind of warmth 温暖. My spirits had risen rise, and I was beginning to enjoy this crazy 荒唐的 game of hide-and-seek 寻求. So far I had been miraculously 神奇 lucky 幸运. The milk‧man 奶‧男人, the literary inn‧keeper 小旅馆‧管理人, Sir 先生 Harry, the road‧man 路‧男人, and the idiotic Marmie, were all pieces of undeserved good for‧tune 命运. Somehow the first success gave me a feeling that I was going to pull the thing through.

My chief trouble was that I was desperately 拼命 hungry 饥饿. When a Jew shoots himself in the City and there is an inquest, the newspapers usually report that the deceased 死亡 was 'well-nourished 滋养'. I remember thinking that they would not call me well-nourished 滋养 if I broke break my neck in a bog 沼泽-hole. I lay lie and tortured 拷打 myself 我—for the ginger 生姜 biscuits 饼干 merely emphasized 注重 the aching 疼痛 void 空虚—with the memory of all the good food I had thought so little of in London. There were Paddock's crisp 脆 sausages 香肠 and fragrant shavings 剃须 of bacon 培根, and shapely poached 偷猎 eggs 鸡蛋—how often I had turned up my nose at them! There were the cutlets they did at the club, and a particular ham 火腿 that stood on the cold table, for which my soul lusted 情欲. My thoughts hovered 徘徊 over all varieties of mortal 凡人 edible 食用, and finally settled on a porter‧house 搬运工‧房屋 steak 牛扒 and a quart 一大杯 of bitter with a welsh rabbit 兔子 to follow. In longing hope‧less 绝望地 for these dainties I fell fall asleep 睡着的.

I woke 醒:wake very cold and stiff 严厉的 about an hour after dawn 黎明. It took me a little while to remember where I was, for I had been very weary 厌倦 and had slept sleep heavily 很大，沉重地. I saw first the pale blue sky through a net 网 of heather 石南属, then a big shoulder of hill, and then my own boots 靴；鞋 placed neatly 整洁的 in a blaeberry bush 灌木. I raised myself 我 on my arms and looked down into the valley, and that one look set me lacing 花边 up my boots in mad 疯狂的 haste 匆忙.

For there were men below, not more than a quarter of a mile off, spaced out on the hill‧side 山坡 like a fan 扇子, and beating the heather 石南属. Marmie had not been slow in looking for his revenge 报仇.

I crawled 爬行 out of my shelf 架子 into the cover of a boulder 漂砾, and from it gained a shallow 浅的 trench 沟 which slanted 倾斜 up the mountain face. This led me presently into the narrow gully of a burn, by way of which I scrambled 争夺 to the top of the ridge 岭. From there I looked back, and saw that I was still undiscovered. My pursuers were patiently quartering the hill‧side 山坡 and moving upwards 向上.

Keeping behind the sky‧line 天际线 I ran for maybe half a mile, till 到 I judged I was above the upper‧most 最高的 end of the glen. Then I showed myself 我, and was instantly 瞬间 noted by one of the flankers, who passed the word to the others. I heard cries coming up from below, and saw that the line of search had changed its direction. I pretended 假装 to retreat 撤退 over the sky‧line 天际线, but instead went back the way I had come, and in twenty 二十 minutes was behind the ridge 岭 over‧look 俯瞰 my sleeping place. From that view‧point 观点 I had the satisfaction 满足 of seeing the pursuit 追求 streaming up the hill at the top of the glen on a hope‧less 绝望地 false 虚伪的 scent 香味.

I had before me a choice of routes 路线, and I chose choose a ridge 岭 which made an angle with the one I was on, and so would soon put a deep glen between me and my enemies. The exercise had warmed my blood, and I was beginning to enjoy myself 我 amazingly 令人惊讶. As I went I break‧fast 早餐 on the dusty 尘土飞扬 remnants 剩 of the ginger 生姜 biscuits 饼干.

I knew very little about the country, and I hadn't a notion 概念 what I was going to do. I trusted to the strength of my legs, but I was well aware 知道的 that those behind me would be familiar with the lie of the land, and that my ignorance 无知 would be a heavy handicap 阻碍. I saw in front of me a sea of hills, rising very high towards the south, but north‧ward 北方 breaking down into broad ridges 岭 which separated wide and shallow 浅的 dales. The ridge 岭 I had chosen choose seemed to sink 淹没 after a mile or two to a moor 泊 which lay like a pocket 口袋 in the uplands 高地. That seemed as good a direction to take as any other.

My stratagem had given me a fair start—call it twenty 二十 minutes—and I had the width 宽度 of a glen behind me before I saw the first heads of the pursuers. The police had evidently 明显地 called in local talent 天赋 to their aid 援助, and the men I could see had the appearance of herds 放牧 or gamekeepers. They hallooed at the sight of me, and I waved my hand. Two dived 潜水 into the glen and began to climb my ridge 岭, while the others kept their own side of the hill. I felt as if I were taking part in a school‧boy 男生 game of hare 野兔 and hounds 猎犬.

But very soon it began to seem less of a game. Those fellows behind were hefty 沉重 men on their native 本土的 heath 健康. Looking back I saw that only three were following direct, and I guessed that the others had fetched 取 a circuit 电路 to cut me off. My lack of local knowledge might very well be my undoing 解开, and I resolved 解决 to get out of this tangle 纠纷 of glens to the pocket of moor 泊 I had seen from the tops. I must so increase my distance as to get clear away from them, and I believed I could do this if I could find the right ground grind for it. If there had been cover I would have tried a bit 一点 of stalking 茎, but on these bare 光秃秃的 slopes 斜坡 you could see a fly a mile off. My hope must be in the length of my legs and the soundness of my wind, but I needed easier ground for that, for I was not bred 养育；繁殖:breed a mountaineer. How I longed for a good Afrikander pony 小马!

I put on a great spurt 喷 and got off my ridge 岭 and down into the moor 泊 before any figures appeared on the sky‧line 天际线 behind me. I crossed a burn, and came out on a high‧road 高的‧路 which made a pass between two glens. All in front of me was a big field of heather 石南属 sloping 斜坡 up to a crest 波峰 which was crowned 王冠 with an odd 奇 feather 羽毛 of trees. In the dyke by the road‧side 路边 was a gate 门, from which a grass 草-grown grow track 小路 led over the first wave of the moor 泊.

I jumped the dyke and followed it, and after a few hundred 百 yards—as soon as it was out of sight of the high‧way 公路—the grass stopped and it became a very respect‧able 可敬 road, which was evidently 明显地 kept with some care. Clearly it ran to a house, and I began to think of doing the same. Hitherto my luck had held, and it might be that my best chance would be found in this remote 远程 dwelling 住. Anyhow 总之 there were trees there, and that meant cover.

I did not follow the road, but the burn‧side 烧‧边；面 which flanked 侧翼 it on the right, where the bracken grew deep and the high banks made a tolerable screen. It was well I did so, for no sooner had I gained the hollow 空的 than, looking back, I saw the pursuit 追求 topping the ridge 岭 from which I had descended 下来.

After that I did not look back; I had no time. I ran up the burn‧side 烧‧边；面, crawling 爬行 over the open places, and for a large part wading 涉 in the shallow 浅的 stream. I found a deserted 沙漠；抛弃 cottage 小屋 with a row 行 of phantom peat 泥炭-stacks 堆 and an overgrown garden. Then I was among young hay 干草, and very soon had come to the edge of a plantation 种植园 of wind-blown blow firs 冷杉. From there I saw the chimneys 烟囱 of the house smoking a few hundred 百 yards to my left. I forsook the burn‧side 烧‧边；面, crossed another dyke, and almost before I knew was on a rough lawn 草坪. A glance 一瞥 back told me that I was well out of sight of the pursuit 追求, which had not yet passed the first lift of the moor 泊.

The lawn 草坪 was a very rough place, cut with a scythe instead of a mower 刈, and planted with beds of scrubby rhododendrons. A brace 支撑 of black-game, which are not usually garden birds, rose rise at my approach. The house before me was the ordinary moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆 farm, with a more pretentious white‧wash 撇清 wing 翅膀 added. Attached to this wing was a glass veranda, and through the glass I saw the face of an elderly 年老的；上了年纪的 gentle‧man 先生 meekly watching me.

I stalked 茎 over the border 边；界 of coarse 粗鄙的 hill gravel 碎石 and entered the open veranda door. Within was a pleasant room, glass on one side, and on the other a mass of books. More books showed in an inner 里面的 room. On the floor, instead of tables, stood cases such as you see in a museum 博物馆, filled with coins 硬币 and queer 奇怪 stone implements 实行.

There was a knee-hole desk in the middle, and seated at it, with some papers and open volumes 卷 before him, was the benevolent old gentle‧man 先生. His face was round and shiny 闪亮, like Mr Pickwick's, big glasses were stuck stick on the end of his nose, and the top of his head was as bright and bare 光秃秃的 as a glass bottle. He never moved when I entered, but raised his placid eye‧brow 眉 and waited on me to speak.

It was not an easy job, with about five minutes to spare 节省；多余的；备用件, to tell a stranger who I was and what I wanted, and to win his aid 援助. I did not attempt it. There was something about the eye of the man before me, something so keen 热切的 and knowledge‧able 懂行, that I could not find a word. I simply stared at him and stuttered.

'You seem in a hurry, my friend,' he said slowly.

I nodded 点头 towards the window. It gave a prospect 展望 across the moor 泊 through a gap 缺口 in the plantation 种植园, and revealed 揭示 certain figures half a mile off straggling through the heather 石南属.

'Ah, I see,' he said, and took up a pair of field-glasses through which he patiently scrutinized 细察 the figures.

'A fugitive 逃亡 from justice, eh? Well, we'll go into the matter at our leisure 闲暇. Meantime 其时 I object to my privacy 隐私 being broken break in upon by the clumsy 笨拙 rural 乡村 police‧man 警察. Go into my study, and you will see two doors facing you. Take the one on the left and close it behind you. You will be perfectly safe.'

And this extra‧ordinary 非凡的 man took up his pen 笔 again.

I did as I was bid 出价, and found myself 我 in a little dark chamber 室 which smelt smell of chemicals 化学, and was lit only by a tiny 小 window high up in the wall. The door had swung swing behind me with a click 点击 like the door of a safe. Once again I had found an unexpected 意外 sanctuary 避难所.

All the same I was not comfort‧able 舒服；自在. There was something about the old gentleman which puzzled 使迷惑 and rather terrified 惊吓 me. He had been too easy and ready, almost as if he had expected me. And his eyes had been horribly 可怕 intelligent 智能.

No sound came to me in that dark place. For all I knew the police might be searching the house, and if they did they would want to know what was behind this door. I tried to possess 拥有 my soul in patience 耐心, and to forget how hungry 饥饿 I was.

Then I took a more cheerful 快乐 view. The old gentleman could scarcely 缺乏的 refuse me a meal 餐, and I fell to reconstructing 重建 my break‧fast 早餐. Bacon and eggs would content me, but I wanted the better part of a flitch of bacon 培根 and half a hundred 百 eggs. And then, while my mouth was watering in anticipation 预期, there was a click 点击 and the door stood open.

I emerged 出现 into the sun‧light 阳光 to find the master of the house sitting in a deep arm‧chair 扶手椅 in the room he called his study, and regarding me with curious eyes.

'Have they gone?' I asked.

'They have gone. I convinced 说服 them that you had crossed the hill. I do not choose that the police should come between me and one whom 谁 I am delighted to honour. This is a lucky 幸运 morning for you, Mr Richard Hannay.'

As he spoke speak his eyelids 眼皮 seemed to tremble 发抖 and to fall a little over his keen 热切的 grey 灰色:gray eyes. In a flash 使闪光 the phrase 短语 of Scudder's came back to me, when he had described the man he most dreaded 恐惧 in the world. He had said that he 'could hood 引擎罩 his eyes like a hawk 鹰'. Then I saw that I had walked straight into the enemy's head‧quarter 总部.

My first impulse 冲动 was to throttle 风门 the old ruffian and make for the open air. He seemed to anticipate 预期 my intention, for he smiled gently, and nodded 点头 to the door behind me.

I turned, and saw two men-servants 仆人 who had me covered with pistols 手枪.

He knew my name, but he had never seen me before. And as the reflection 反映 darted 镖 across my mind I saw a slender 苗条 chance.

'I don't know what you mean,' I said roughly. 'And who are you calling Richard Hannay? My name's Ainslie.'

'So?' he said, still smiling. 'But of course you have others. We won win't quarrel 争吵 about a name.'

I was pulling myself 我 together now, and I reflected that my garb, lacking coat and waist‧coat 腰‧上衣 and collar 衣领, would at any rate not betray 背叛 me. I put on my surliest face and shrugged 耸 my shoulders.

'I suppose you're going to give me up after all, and I call it a damned 该死的 dirty 肮脏 trick 哄骗；诀窍. My God, I wish I had never seen that cursed 诅咒 motor-car! Here's the money and be damned 该死的 to you,' and I flung four sovereigns 君主 on the table.

He opened his eyes a little. 'Oh no, I shall not give you up. My friends and I will have a little private settlement 沉降 with you, that is all. You know a little too much, Mr Hannay. You are a clever 聪明的 actor 演员, but not quite clever enough.'

He spoke with assurance 保证, but I could see the dawning 黎明 of a doubt in his mind.

'Oh, for God's sake 缘故 stop jawing 下巴,' I cried. 'Everything's against me. I haven't had a bit 一点 of luck since I came on shore at Leith. What's the harm 损害 in a poor devil 魔鬼 with an empty stomach 胃 picking up some money he finds in a bust 胸围-up motor-car? That's all I done, and for that I've been chivvied for two days by those blasted 爆破 bobbies over those blasted 爆破 hills. I tell you I'm fair sick of it. You can do what you like, old boy! Ned Ainslie's got no fight left in him.'

I could see that the doubt was gaining.

'Will you oblige 责成 me with the story of your recent doings?' he asked.

'I can't, guv'nor,' I said in a real beggar 乞丐's whine 抱怨. 'I've not had a bite 咬 to eat for two days. Give me a mouthful of food, and then you'll hear God's truth.'

I must have showed my hunger 饿 in my face, for he signalled to one of the men in the door‧way 门口. A bit of cold pie 馅饼 was brought and a glass of beer 啤酒, and I wolfed 狼 them down like a pig 猪—or rather, like Ned Ainslie, for I was keeping up my character. In the middle of my meal 餐 he spoke suddenly to me in German, but I turned on him a face as blank 空白 as a stone wall.

Then I told him my story—how I had come off an Archangel ship at Leith a week ago, and was making my way over‧land 之上‧陆地；着陆 to my brother at Wigtown. I had run short of cash 现金—I hinted 暗示 vaguely 依稀 at a spree—and I was pretty well on my uppers when I had come on a hole in a hedge 树篱, and, looking through, had seen a big motor-car lying in the burn. I had poked 戳 about to see what had happened, and had found three sovereigns 君主 lying on the seat and one on the floor. There was nobody there or any sign of an owner, so I had pocketed 口袋 the cash 现金. But somehow the law had got after me. When I had tried to change a sovereign 君主 in a baker 烤's shop, the woman had cried on the police, and a little later, when I was washing my face in a burn, I had been nearly gripped 握, and had only got away by leaving my coat and waist‧coat 腰‧上衣 behind me.

'They can have the money back,' I cried, 'for a fat lot of good it's done me. Those perishers are all down on a poor man. Now, if it had been you, guv'nor, that had found the quids 嚼, nobody would have troubled you.'

'You're a good liar 说谎者, Hannay,' he said.

I flew fly into a rage 愤怒. 'Stop fooling, damn 该死的 you! I tell you my name's Ainslie, and I never heard of anyone called Hannay in my born bear days. I'd sooner have the police than you with your Hannays and your monkey 猴-faced pistol 手枪 tricks 哄骗；诀窍 ... No, guv'nor, I beg 乞讨 pardon 宽恕；说啥？, I don't mean that. I'm much obliged 责成 to you for the grub, and I'll thank you to let me go now the coast's clear.'

It was obvious 明显 that he was badly 很糟地 puzzled. You see he had never seen me, and my appearance must have altered 改变 consider‧able 相当 from my photographs 照片, if he had got one of them. I was pretty smart 聪明 and well dressed in London, and now I was a regular tramp 流浪汉.

'I do not propose to let you go. If you are what you say you are, you will soon have a chance of clearing your‧self 你自己. If you are what I believe you are, I do not think you will see the light much longer.'

He rang a bell 钟, and a third servant 仆人 appeared from the veranda.

'I want the Lanchester in five minutes,' he said. 'There will be three to luncheon 午餐.'

Then he looked steadily at me, and that was the hardest ordeal 考验 of all.

There was something weird 奇怪的 and devilish in those eyes, cold, malignant 恶性, unearthly 挖掘, and most hellishly clever 聪明的. They fascinated 深深吸引；迷住 me like the bright eyes of a snake. I had a strong impulse 冲动 to throw myself 我 on his mercy 宽容 and offer to join his side, and if you consider the way I felt about the whole thing you will see that that impulse 冲动 must have been purely physical 物理, the weakness 弱点 of a brain mesmerized and mastered by a stronger spirit. But I managed to stick it out and even to grin 微笑.

'You'll know me next time, guv'nor,' I said.

'Karl,' he spoke in German to one of the men in the door‧way 门口, 'you will put this fellow in the store‧room 商店‧房间 till 到 I return, and you will be answer‧able 答复‧能够的 to me for his keeping.'

I was marched 行军；三月 out of the room with a pistol 手枪 at each ear.

The store‧room 商店‧房间 was a damp 微湿的 chamber 室 in what had been the old farm‧house 农家. There was no carpet 地毯 on the uneven 不均匀的 floor, and nothing to sit down on but a school form. It was black as pitch 沥青, for the windows were heavily 很大，沉重地 shuttered 快门. I made out by groping 摸索 that the walls were lined with boxes and barrels 桶 and sacks 解雇 of some heavy stuff 塞满；材料. The whole place smelt of mould and disuse. My gaolers turned the key in the door, and I could hear them shifting 转移 their feet as they stood on guard outside.

I sat sit down in that chilly 寒冷 darkness 黑暗 in a very miserable 悲惨的 frame of mind. The old boy had gone off in a motor to collect the two ruffians who had interviewed 访问 me yesterday. Now, they had seen me as the road‧man 路‧男人, and they would remember me, for I was in the same rig 操纵. What was a road‧man 路‧男人 doing twenty 二十 miles from his beat, pursued 追求 by the police? A question or two would put them on the track 小路. Probably they had seen Mr Turnbull, probably Marmie too; most likely they could link 链接 me up with Sir 先生 Harry, and then the whole thing would be crystal 水晶 clear. What chance had I in this moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆 house with three desperadoes and their armed servants?

I began to think wistfully of the police, now plodding over the hills after my wraith. They at any rate were fellow-countrymen and honest 诚实的 men, and their tender 纤弱的 mercies 宽容 would be kinder than these ghoulish aliens 外侨. But they wouldn't have listened to me. That old devil 魔鬼 with the eyelids 眼皮 had not taken long to get rid 使摆脱 of them. I thought he probably had some kind of graft 接枝 with the constabulary. Most likely he had letters from Cabinet Ministers saying he was to be given every facility 设施 for plotting 情节 against Britain. That's the sort of owlish way we run our politics in the Old Country.

The three would be back for lunch 午餐, so I hadn't more than a couple of hours to wait. It was simply waiting on destruction 破坏, for I could see no way out of this mess 不整洁；弄乱. I wished that I had Scudder's courage 勇气, for I am free to confess 供认 I didn't feel any great fortitude. The only thing that kept me going was that I was pretty furious 狂怒. It made me boil 煮沸 with rage 愤怒 to think of those three spies 间谍 getting the pull on me like this. I hoped that at any rate I might be able to twist 扭成一束 one of their necks before they downed me.

The more I thought of it the angrier 生气的 I grew, and I had to get up and move about the room. I tried the shutters 快门, but they were the kind that lock with a key, and I couldn't move them. From the outside came the faint 微弱的 clucking of hens 母鸡 in the warm sun. Then I groped 摸索 among the sacks 解雇 and boxes. I couldn't open the latter, and the sacks 解雇 seemed to be full of things like dog-biscuits 饼干 that smelt of cinnamon. But, as I circumnavigated the room, I found a handle in the wall which seemed worth investigating 调查.

It was the door of a wall cup‧board 橱柜—what they call a 'press' in Scotland—and it was locked. I shook shake it, and it seemed rather flimsy 单薄. For want of something better to do I put out my strength on that door, getting some purchase 采购 on the handle by looping 循环 my braces 支撑 round it. Presently the thing gave with a crash 碰撞 which I thought would bring in my warders to inquire 打听. I waited for a bit, and then started to explore the cup‧board 橱柜 shelves.

There was a multitude 苠 of queer 奇怪 things there. I found an odd 奇 vesta or two in my trouser pockets 口袋 and struck strike a light. It was out in a second, but it showed me one thing. There was a little stock of electric torches 火炬 on one shelf 架子. I picked up one, and found it was in working order.

With the torch 火炬 to help me I investigated 调查 further. There were bottles and cases of queer 奇怪-smelling stuffs 塞满；材料, chemicals 化学 no doubt for experiments, and there were coils 盘 of fine copper 铜 wire and yanks 猛拉 and yanks 猛拉 of thin oiled silk 丝. There was a box of detonators, and a lot of cord 绳 for fuses 保险丝. Then away at the back of the shelf 3 I found a stout 肥硕 brown card‧board 纸板 box, and inside it a wooden 木制的 case. I managed to wrench 扳手 it open, and within lay half a dozen little grey 灰色:gray bricks 砖, each a couple of inches square.

I took up one, and found that it crumbled 崩溃 easily in my hand. Then I smelt it and put my tongue 舌头 to it. After that I sat down to think. I hadn't been a mining engineer for nothing, and I knew lentonite when I saw it.

With one of these bricks I could blow the house to smithereens. I had used the stuff 塞满；材料 in Rhodesia and knew its power. But the trouble was that my knowledge wasn't exact. I had forgotten forget the proper charge and the right way of preparing it, and I wasn't sure about the timing. I had only a vague 模糊 notion 概念, too, as to its power, for though I had used it I had not handled it with my own fingers.

But it was a chance, the only possible chance. It was a mighty 威武 risk, but against it was an absolute black certainty 确定性. If I used it the odds 奇 were, as I reckoned 估计, about five to one in favour of my blowing myself 我 into the tree-tops; but if I didn't I should very likely be occupying 占据 a six-foot hole in the garden by the evening. That was the way I had to look at it. The prospect 展望 was pretty dark either way, but anyhow 总之 there was a chance, both for myself 我 and for my country.

The remembrance 纪念 of little Scudder decided me. It was about the beastliest moment of my life, for I'm no good at these cold-blooded resolutions 解析度. Still I managed to rake 耙子 up the pluck 采摘 to set my teeth and choke 呛 back the horrid doubts that flooded 洪水 in on me. I simply shut 关闭 off my mind and pretended I was doing an experiment as simple as Guy 家伙 Fawkes fire‧work 焰火.

I got a detonator, and fixed it to a couple of feet of fuse 保险丝. Then I took a quarter of a lentonite brick 砖, and buried 埋葬 it near the door below one of the sacks 解雇 in a crack 破裂 of the floor, fixing the detonator in it. For all I knew half those boxes might be dynamite. If the cup‧board 橱柜 held such deadly explosives 爆炸的, why not the boxes? In that case there would be a glorious 辉煌 sky‧ward 天（空）‧病房 journey 旅行 for me and the German servants and about an acre 英亩 of surrounding country. There was also the risk that the detonation might set off the other bricks in the cupboard, for I had forgotten most that I knew about lentonite. But it didn't do to begin thinking about the possibilities 可能性. The odds 奇 were horrible 可怕, but I had to take them.

I ensconced myself 我 just below the sill of the window, and lit the fuse 保险丝. Then I waited for a moment or two. There was dead silence—only a shuffle 拖曳 of heavy boots in the passage, and the peaceful 平静的 cluck of hens 母鸡 from the warm out-of-doors. I commended 表彰 my soul to my Maker, and wondered where I would be in five seconds ...

A great wave of heat seemed to surge 浪涌 upwards 向上 from the floor, and hang for a blistering 起泡 instant 瞬间 in the air. Then the wall opposite me flashed 使闪光 into a golden 金色的 yellow and dissolved 溶解 with a rending thunder 雷声 that hammered 铁锤 my brain into a pulp 纸浆. Something dropped on me, catching the point of my left shoulder.

And then I think I became unconscious 无意识.

My stupor can scarcely have lasted beyond a few seconds. I felt myself 我 being choked 呛 by thick yellow fumes 烟, and struggled out of the debris 废墟 to my feet. Somewhere behind me I felt fresh air. The jambs of the window had fallen fall, and through the ragged 抹布 rent 租；租金 the smoke was pouring 淋；倒 out to the summer noon 正午. I stepped over the broken lintel, and found myself 我 standing in a yard in a dense 稠密 and acrid fog 多雾路段. I felt very sick and ill 生病, but I could move my limbs 肢, and I staggered 错开 blindly forward away from the house.

A small mill 磨坊-lade ran in a wooden 木制的 aqueduct at the other side of the yard, and into this I fell. The cool water revived 复活 me, and I had just enough wits 风趣 left to think of escape. I squirmed up the lade among the slippery 滑；狡猾的 green slime till I reached the mill-wheel. Then I wriggled 蠢动 through the axle hole into the old mill and tumbled 下跌 on to a bed of chaff. A nail 钉子 caught catch the seat of my trousers 长裤, and I left a wisp of heather 石南属-mixture 混合 behind me.

The mill had been long out of use. The ladders 梯子 were rotten 腐烂的 with age, and in the loft 阁楼 the rats 鼠 had gnawed great holes in the floor. Nausea shook me, and a wheel in my head kept turning, while my left shoulder and arm seemed to be stricken with the palsy. I looked out of the window and saw a fog 多雾路段 still hanging over the house and smoke escaping from an upper window. Please God I had set the place on fire, for I could hear confused 使困窘 cries coming from the other side.

But I had no time to linger 萦绕, since this mill was obviously 明显 a bad hiding-place. Anyone looking for me would naturally 自然地 follow the lade, and I made certain the search would begin as soon as they found that my body was not in the store‧room 商店‧房间. From another window I saw that on the far side of the mill stood an old stone dovecot. If I could get there without leaving tracks 小路 I might find a hiding-place, for I argued that my enemies, if they thought I could move, would conclude 得出结论 I had made for open country, and would go seeking 寻求 me on the moor 泊.

I crawled 爬行 down the broken ladder 梯子, scattering 散落 chaff behind me to cover my foot‧step 脚步. I did the same on the mill floor, and on the threshold 阈 where the door hung on broken hinges 合页. Peeping out, I saw that between me and the dovecot was a piece of bare 光秃秃的 cobbled 鹅卵石 ground, where no footmarks would show. Also it was mercifully hid hide by the mill buildings from any view from the house. I slipped across the space, got to the back of the dovecot and prospected 展望 a way of ascent 上升.

That was one of the hardest jobs I ever took on. My shoulder and arm ached 疼痛 like hell 地狱, and I was so sick and giddy that I was always on the verge 边缘 of falling. But I managed it somehow. By the use of out-jutting 突出部分 stones and gaps 缺口 in the masonry and a tough 坚强的 ivy root I got to the top in the end. There was a little parapet behind which I found space to lie down. Then I proceeded 继续 to go off into an old-fashioned swoon.

I woke with a burning head and the sun glaring 强光 in my face. For a long time I lay motion‧less 运动‧少, for those horrible 可怕 fumes 烟 seemed to have loosened 变松 my joints 共同的 and dulled 钝的；没兴趣 my brain. Sounds came to me from the house—men speaking throatily and the throbbing 搏动 of a stationary 静止的 car. There was a little gap 缺口 in the parapet to which I wriggled 蠢动, and from which I had some sort of prospect 展望 of the yard. I saw figures come out—a servant 仆人 with his head bound 必定；跳 up, and then a younger man in knickerbockers. They were looking for something, and moved towards the mill. Then one of them caught sight of the wisp of cloth 布 on the nail 钉子, and cried out to the other. They both went back to the house, and brought two more to look at it. I saw the rotund figure of my late captor, and I thought I made out the man with the lisp. I noticed that all had pistols 手枪.

For half an hour they ransacked the mill. I could hear them kicking 踢 over the barrels and pulling up the rotten 腐烂的 planking 板. Then they came outside, and stood just below the dovecot arguing fiercely 凶猛的. The servant 仆人 with the band‧age 绷带 was being soundly rated. I heard them fiddling 小提琴 with the door of the dovecote and for one horrid moment I fancied 想像 they were coming up. Then they thought better of it, and went back to the house.

All that long blistering 起泡 afternoon I lay baking 烤 on the roof‧top 屋顶. Thirst was my chief torment 折磨. My tongue 舌头 was like a stick, and to make it worse I could hear the cool drip 滴 of water from the mill-lade. I watched the course of the little stream as it came in from the moor 泊, and my fancy 想像 followed it to the top of the glen, where it must issue from an icy 冷冰冰 fountain 喷泉 fringed 边缘 with cool ferns 蕨类 and mosses 苔藓. I would have given a thou‧sand 千 pounds to plunge 跳水 my face into that.

I had a fine prospect 展望 of the whole ring of moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆. I saw the car speed away with two occupants 占有者, and a man on a hill pony 小马 riding east. I judged they were looking for me, and I wished them joy 喜悦 of their quest 寻求.

But I saw something else more interesting. The house stood almost on the summit 首脑 of a swell 膨胀；增强 of moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆 which crowned a sort of plateau 高原, and there was no higher point nearer than the big hills six miles off. The actual summit 首脑, as I have mentioned, was a biggish clump 丛 of trees—firs 冷杉 mostly, with a few ashes 灰 and beeches. On the dovecot I was almost on a level with the tree-tops, and could see what lay beyond. The wood was not solid, but only a ring, and inside was an oval 椭圆 of green turf 草皮, for all the world like a big cricket 蟋蟀-field.

I didn't take long to guess what it was. It was an aerodrome, and a secret one. The place had been most cunningly 狡猾 chosen. For suppose anyone were watching an aeroplane descending 下来 here, he would think it had gone over the hill beyond the trees. As the place was on the top of a rise in the midst 中间 of a big amphitheatre, any observer from any direction would conclude 得出结论 it had passed out of view behind the hill. Only a man very close at hand would realize that the aeroplane had not gone over but had descended in the midst 中间 of the wood. An observer with a telescope 望远镜 on one of the higher hills might have discovered the truth, but only herds 放牧 went there, and herds 放牧 do not carry spy 间谍-glasses. When I looked from the dovecot I could see far away a blue line which I knew was the sea, and I grew furious 狂怒 to think that our enemies had this secret conning CON-tower 塔 to rake 耙子 our water‧way 水路.

Then I reflected that if that aeroplane came back the chances were ten 十 to one that I would be discovered. So through the afternoon I lay and prayed for the coming of darkness 黑暗, and glad 高兴的 I was when the sun went down over the big western hills and the twilight 暮 haze 阴霾 crept 爬行:creep over the moor 泊. The aeroplane was late. The gloaming was far advanced when I heard the beat of wings 翅膀 and saw it volplaning down‧ward 向下 to its home in the wood. Lights twinkled 眨眼 for a bit and there was much coming and going from the house. Then the dark fell, and silence.

Thank God it was a black night. The moon was well on its last quarter and would not rise till late. My thirst was too great to allow me to tarry, so about nine 九 o' clock 钟, so far as I could judge, I started to descend 下来. It wasn't easy, and half-way down I heard the back door of the house open, and saw the gleam 闪光 of a lantern 灯笼 against the mill wall. For some agonizing 烦恼 minutes I hung by the ivy and prayed that who‧ever 无论谁 it was would not come round by the dovecot. Then the light disappeared 不见, and I dropped as softly as I could on to the hard soil of the yard.

I crawled 爬行 on my belly 肚皮 in the lee of a stone dyke till I reached the fringe 边缘 of trees which surrounded the house. If I had known how to do it I would have tried to put that aeroplane out of action, but I realized that any attempt would probably be futile 无用. I was pretty certain that there would be some kind of defence round the house, so I went through the wood on hands and knees, feeling carefully 小心 every inch before me. It was as well, for presently I came on a wire about two feet from the ground. If I had tripped over that, it would doubt‧less 毫无疑问， have rung some bell 钟 in the house and I would have been captured 捕获.

A hundred 百 yards farther on I found another wire cunningly 狡猾 placed on the edge of a small stream. Beyond that lay the moor 泊, and in five minutes I was deep in bracken and heather 石南属. Soon I was round the shoulder of the rise, in the little glen from which the mill-lade flowed. Ten 十 minutes later my face was in the spring, and I was soaking 浸泡 down pints 品脱；小半升 of the blessed 祝福 water.

But I did not stop till I had put half a dozen miles between me and that accursed dwelling 住.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Dry-Fly Fisherman

I sat down on a hill-top and took stock of my position. I wasn't feeling very happy, for my natural 自然 thankfulness at my escape was clouded by my severe 严峻的 bodily discomfort 不舒适. Those lentonite fumes 烟 had fairly poisoned 毒药 me, and the baking hours on the dovecot hadn't helped matters. I had a crushing 压破 head‧ache 头痛, and felt as sick as a cat 猫. Also my shoulder was in a bad way. At first I thought it was only a bruise 挫伤, but it seemed to be swelling 膨胀；增强, and I had no use of my left arm.

My plan was to seek 寻求 Mr Turnbull's cottage 小屋, recover 恢复 my garments 服装, and especially Scudder's note-book, and then make for the main line and get back to the south. It seemed to me that the sooner I got in touch with the Foreign Office man, Sir 先生 Walter Bullivant, the better. I didn't see how I could get more proof 证明 than I had got already. He must just take or leave my story, and anyway 无论如何, with him I would be in better hands than those devilish Germans. I had begun to feel quite kindly towards the British police.

It was a wonderful 精彩 starry night, and I had not much difficulty about the road. Sir 3 Harry's map 地图 had given me the lie of the land, and all I had to do was to steer 驾驶 a point or two west of south-west to come to the stream where I had met the road‧man 路‧男人. In all these travels I never knew the names of the places, but I believe this stream was no less than the upper waters of the river Tweed. I calculated 计算 I must be about eighteen 十八 miles distant 遥远的, and that meant I could not get there before morning. So I must lie up a day somewhere, for I was too outrageous 蛮横的 a figure to be seen in the sun‧light 阳光. I had neither coat, waist‧coat 腰‧上衣, collar 衣领, nor hat, my trousers 长裤 were badly 很糟地 torn tear, and my face and hands were black with the explosion 爆炸. I dare‧say 敢‧说 I had other beauties, for my eyes felt as if they were furiously 疯狂 blood‧shot 血‧射击. Altogether 全部地 I was no spectacle 场面；眼镜 for God-fearing citizens to see on a high‧road 高的‧路.

Very soon after day‧break 一天‧破；断 I made an attempt to clean myself 我 in a hill burn, and then approached a herd 放牧's cottage 小屋, for I was feeling the need of food. The herd 放牧 was away from home, and his wife was alone, with no neighbour for five miles. She was a decent 正经 old body, and a plucky one, for though she got a fright 恐怖 when she saw me, she had an axe 斧子 handy 便利, and would have used it on any evil-doer. I told her that I had had a fall—I didn't say how—and she saw by my looks that I was pretty sick. Like a true Samaritan she asked no questions, but gave me a bowl 碗 of milk 奶 with a dash 短跑 of whisky 威士忌酒 in it, and let me sit for a little by her kitchen fire. She would have bathed 沐浴 my shoulder, but it ached so badly 很糟地 that I would not let her touch it.

I don't know what she took me for—a repentant burglar 窃贼, perhaps; for when I wanted to pay her for the milk and tendered 纤弱的 a sovereign 君主 which was the smallest coin 硬币 I had, she shook her head and said something about 'giving it to them that had a right to it'. At this I protested 抗议 so strongly that I think she believed me honest 诚实的, for she took the money and gave me a warm new plaid for it, and an old hat of her man's. She showed me how to wrap 包 the plaid around my shoulders, and when I left that cottage 3 I was the living image 图片 of the kind of Scotsman you see in the illustrations 插图 to Burns's poems. But at any rate I was more or less clad 包层的.

It was as well, for the weather changed before midday 正午 to a thick drizzle of rain. I found shelter below an over‧hang 悬垂 rock in the crook 弯曲 of a burn, where a drift 漂移 of dead brackens made a tolerable bed. There I managed to sleep till night‧fall 夜‧落下, waking 醒 very cramped 抽筋 and wretched 不幸的人, with my shoulder gnawing like a tooth‧ache 牙‧疼痛. I ate the oat‧cake 燕麦‧蛋糕 and cheese 奶酪 the old wife had given me and set out again just before the darkening 变暗.

I pass over the miseries 痛苦 of that night among the wet 湿的 hills. There were no stars to steer 驾驶 by, and I had to do the best I could from my memory of the map 地图. Twice 两次 I lost my way, and I had some nasty 讨厌 falls into peat 泥炭-bogs 沼泽. I had only about ten 十 miles to go as the crow 乌鸦 flies, but my mistakes made it nearer twenty 二十. The last bit was completed with set teeth and a very light and dizzy 头晕 head. But I managed it, and in the early dawn 黎明 I was knocking 敲 at Mr Turnbull's door. The mist 薄雾 lay close and thick, and from the cottage I could not see the high‧road 高的‧路.

Mr Turnbull himself opened to me—sober 清醒 and something more than sober 清醒. He was primly dressed in an ancient but well-tended suit of black; he had been shaved 剃须 not later than the night before; he wore wear a linen 麻布 collar 衣领; and in his left hand he carried a pocket Bible. At first he did not recognize me.

'Whae are ye that comes stravaigin' here on the Sabbath mornin'?' he asked.

I had lost all count of the days. So the Sabbath was the reason for this strange decorum.

My head was swimming 游泳 so wildly that I could not frame a coherent 相干 answer. But he recognized me, and he saw that I was ill 生病.

'Hae ye got my specs 规范?' he asked.

I fetched 取 them out of my trouser pocket and gave him them.

'Ye'll hae come for your jaicket and west‧coat 西‧上衣,' he said. 'Come in-bye 再见. Losh, man, ye're terrible dune 沙丘 i' the legs. Haud up till I get ye to a chair.'

I perceived 认为 I was in for a bout 回合 of malaria 疟疾. I had a good deal of fever 发热 in my bones 骨头, and the wet 湿的 night had brought it out, while my shoulder and the effects of the fumes 烟 combined to make me feel pretty bad. Before I knew, Mr Turnbull was helping me off with my clothes, and putting me to bed in one of the two cup‧board 橱柜 that lined the kitchen walls.

He was a true friend in need, that old road‧man 路‧男人. His wife was dead years ago, and since his daughter's marriage he lived alone.

For the better part of ten 十 days he did all the rough nursing 护士 I needed. I simply wanted to be left in peace while the fever 发热 took its course, and when my skin 皮 was cool again I found that the bout 回合 had more or less cured 治愈 my shoulder. But it was a bad‧dish 坏的‧盘 go, and though I was out of bed in five days, it took me some time to get my legs again.

He went out each morning, leaving me milk for the day, and locking the door behind him; and came in in the evening to sit silent in the chimney 烟囱 corner. Not a soul came near the place. When I was getting better, he never bothered 烦 me with a question. Several times he fetched 取 me a two days' old Scotsman, and I noticed that the interest in the Portland Place murder seemed to have died down. There was no mention of it, and I could find very little about anything except a thing called the General Assembly—some ecclesiastical 教会 spree, I gathered.

One day he produced my belt 腰带 from a lock‧fast 锁‧快的 drawer 抽屉. 'There's a terrible heap 堆 o' siller in't,' he said. 'Ye'd better coont it to see it's a' there.'

He never even sought my name. I asked him if any‧body 任何人 had been around making inquiries 调查 subsequent 随后的，接着的 to my spell 拼写 at the road-making.

'Ay, there was a man in a motor-cawr. He speired whae had ta'en 恩 my place that day, and I let on I thocht him daft 愚蠢的. But he keepit on at me, and syne I said he maun be thin‧kin 薄的‧亲属' o' my gude-brither frae the Cleuch that whiles lent 把…借给:lend me a haun'. He was a wersh-lookin' sowl, and I couldna understand the half o' his English tongue 舌头.'

I was getting rest‧less 不安 those last days, and as soon as I felt myself 我 fit I decided to be off. That was not till the twelfth day of June, and as luck would have it a drover went past that morning taking some cattle to Moffat. He was a man named Hislop, a friend of Turnbull's, and he came in to his break‧fast 早餐 with us and offered to take me with him.

I made Turnbull accept five pounds for my lodging 存放, and a hard job I had of it. There never was a more independent 独立 being. He grew positively 积极 rude 粗鲁的 when I pressed him, and shy 害羞 and red, and took the money at last without a thank you. When I told him how much I owed 欠…债 him, he grunted 咕噜 something about 'ae guid turn deservin' anither'. You would have thought from our leave-taking that we had parted in disgust 反感.

Hislop was a cheery soul, who chattered 喋喋不休 all the way over the pass and down the sunny 晴朗 vale of Annan. I talked of Galloway markets and sheep 羊 prices, and he made up his mind I was a 'pack-shepherd 牧羊人' from those parts—whatever that may be. My plaid and my old hat, as I have said, gave me a fine theatrical 戏剧的 Scots look. But driving cattle is a mortally 凡人 slow job, and we took the better part of the day to cover a dozen miles.

If I had not had such an anxious 焦急的 heart I would have enjoyed that time. It was shining 发光 blue weather, with a constantly 总是；经常地，不断地 changing prospect 展望 of brown hills and far green meadows 草地, and a continual 持续 sound of larks and curlews and falling streams. But I had no mind for the summer, and little for Hislop's conversation, for as the fateful fifteenth of June drew draw near I was overweighed with the hope‧less 绝望 difficulties of my enterprise 企业.

I got some dinner in a humble 谦逊的 Moffat public-house, and walked the two miles to the junction 连接点 on the main line. The night express for the south was not due till near mid‧night 午夜, and to fill up the time I went up on the hill‧side 山坡 and fell asleep 睡着的, for the walk had tired me. I all but slept too long, and had to run to the station and catch the train with two minutes to spare 节省；多余的；备用件. The feel of the hard third-class cushions 垫子 and the smell of stale 陈旧 tobacco 烟草 cheered 欢呼 me up wonderfully 奇妙. At any rate, I felt now that I was getting to grips 握 with my job.

I was decanted at Crewe in the small hours and had to wait till six to get a train for Birmingham. In the afternoon I got to Reading, and changed into a local train which journeyed 旅行 into the deeps of Berkshire. Presently I was in a land of lush 青葱的 water-meadows 草地 and slow reedy streams. About eight 八 o' clock 钟 in the evening, a weary 厌倦 and travel-stained being—a cross between a farm-labourer and a vet 兽医—with a checked black-and-white plaid over his arm (for I did not dare 敢 to wear it south of the Border 边；界), descended at the little station of Artinswell. There were several people on the platform 平台, and I thought I had better wait to ask my way till I was clear of the place.

The road led through a wood of great beeches and then into a shallow 3 valley, with the green backs of downs peeping 窥视 over the distant 遥远的 trees. After Scotland the air smelt heavy and flat, but infinitely 无限地 sweet, for the limes 青柠 and chest‧nut 板栗 and lilac bushes 灌木 were domes 拱顶 of blossom 开花. Presently I came to a bridge, below which a clear slow stream flowed between snowy 似雪 beds of water-buttercups. A little above it was a mill; and the lasher 睫毛 made a pleasant cool sound in the scented 香味 dusk 黄昏. Somehow the place soothed 缓和 me and put me at my ease 轻松. I fell to whistling 吹口哨 as I looked into the green depths, and the tune 曲调 which came to my lips was 'Annie Laurie'.

A fisherman 渔 came up from the water‧side 水‧边；面, and as he neared me he too began to whistle 吹口哨. The tune was infectious 传染病, for he followed my suit. He was a huge 巨大 man in untidy 襶 old flannels and a wide-brimmed 边 hat, with a canvas 帆布 bag 袋 slung on his shoulder. He nodded 点头 to me, and I thought I had never seen a shrewder 精明 or better-tempered 性情 face. He leaned lean his delicate 微妙的；纤弱的 ten 十-foot split 分裂-cane 甘蔗 rod 杆 against the bridge, and looked with me at the water.

'Clear, isn't it?' he said pleasantly. 'I back our Kenner any day against the Test. Look at that big fellow. Four pounds if he's an ounce 盎司. But the evening rise is over and you can't tempt 引诱 'em.'

'I don't see him,' said I.

'Look! There! A yard from the reeds 芦苇 just above that stickle.'

'I've got him now. You might swear 发誓 he was a black stone.'

'So,' he said, and whistled 吹口哨 another bar of 'Annie Laurie'.

'Twisdon's the name, isn't it?' he said over his shoulder, his eyes still fixed on the stream.

'No,' I said. 'I mean to say, Yes.' I had forgotten all about my alias.

'It's a wise 明智的；聪明的 conspirator that knows his own name,' he observed, grinning 微笑 broadly at a moor 泊-hen 母鸡 that emerged 出现 from the bridge's shadow.

I stood up and looked at him, at the square, cleft jaw 下巴 and broad, lined brow 眉头 and the firm folds 折叠 of cheek 脸颊, and began to think that here at last was an ally 联盟；盟友 worth having. His whimsical blue eyes seemed to go very deep.

Suddenly he frowned 皱眉. 'I call it disgraceful,' he said, raising his voice. 'Disgraceful that an able-bodied man like you should dare 敢 to beg. You can get a meal from my kitchen, but you'll get no money from me.'

A dog-cart 运货马车 was passing, driven drive by a young man who raised his whip 鞭打 to salute 礼炮 the fisherman 渔. When he had gone, he picked up his rod 杆.

'That's my house,' he said, pointing to a white gate 门 a hundred 百 yards on. 'Wait five minutes and then go round to the back door.' And with that he left me.

I did as I was bidden. I found a pretty cottage with a lawn 草坪 running down to the stream, and a perfect jungle 丛林 of guelder-rose and lilac flanking 侧翼 the path 小路. The back door stood open, and a grave 坟墓；严重的 butler 男管家 was awaiting 等待 me.

'Come this way, Sir,' he said, and he led me along a passage and up a back stair‧case 楼梯 to a pleasant bed‧room 卧室 looking towards the river. There I found a complete outfit 配备 laid out for me—dress clothes with all the fixings, a brown flannel suit, shirts 衬衫, collars 衣领, ties, shaving 剃须 things and hair-brushes, even a pair of patent 专利 shoes. 'Sir Walter thought as how Mr Reggie's things would fit you, Sir,' said the butler 男管家. 'He keeps some clothes 'ere, for he comes regular on the week-ends. There's a bath‧room 浴室 next door, and I've prepared a 'ot bath 沐浴. Dinner in 'alf an hour, Sir. You'll 'ear the gong.'

The grave 坟墓；严重的 being withdrew, and I sat down in a chintz-covered easy-chair and gaped 盱；目瞪口呆. It was like a pantomime, to come suddenly out of beggardom into this orderly comfort. Obviously 明显 Sir Walter believed in me, though why he did I could not guess. I looked at myself 我 in the mirror 镜子 and saw a wild, haggard brown fellow, with a fort‧night 两星期's ragged 抹布 beard 胡须, and dust in ears and eyes, collar‧less 衣领‧少, vulgarly 庸俗 shirted 衬衫, with shape‧less 形状‧少 old tweed clothes and boots that had not been cleaned for the better part of a month. I made a fine tramp 流浪汉 and a fair drover; and here I was ushered 招待员 by a prim butler 男管家 into this temple 庙 of gracious 亲切 ease 轻松. And the best of it was that they did not even know my name.

I resolved 解决 not to puzzle 使迷惑 my head but to take the gifts 赠品 the gods had provided. I shaved and bathed luxuriously 豪华, and got into the dress clothes and clean crackling 裂纹 shirt 衬衫, which fitted me not so badly 很糟地. By the time I had finished the looking-glass showed a not unpersonable young man.

Sir Walter awaited 等待 me in a dusky dining 吃饭-room where a little round table was lit with silver 银 candles 蜡烛. The sight of him—so respect‧able 可敬 and established 建立 and secure 安全, the embodiment 实施例 of law and government and all the conventions 惯例—took me aback 吓了一跳 and made me feel an interloper. He couldn't know the truth about me, or he wouldn't treat me like this. I simply could not accept his hospitality 待客 on false 虚伪的 pretences.

'I'm more obliged 责成 to you than I can say, but I'm bound 必定；跳 to make things clear,' I said. 'I'm an innocent 无辜 man, but I'm wanted by the police. I've got to tell you this, and I won't be surprised if you kick 踢 me out.'

He smiled. 'That's all right. Don't let that interfere 干预 with your appetite 食欲. We can talk about these things after dinner.' I never ate a meal with greater relish 滋味, for I had had nothing all day but rail‧way 铁路 sandwiches 三明治. Sir Walter did me proud, for we drank drink a good champagne 香槟酒 and had some uncommon 罕见 fine port 港口 after‧ward 之后. It made me almost hysterical 歇斯底里 to be sitting there, waited on by a foot‧man 脚；英尺‧男人 and a sleek 光滑 butler 男管家, and remember that I had been living for three weeks like a brigand, with every man's hand against me. I told Sir Walter about tiger 虎-fish in the Zambesi that bite 咬 off your fingers if you give them a chance, and we discussed sport up and down the globe 地球, for he had hunted a bit in his day.

We went to his study for coffee, a jolly 欢乐 room full of books and trophies 杯 and untidiness and comfort. I made up my mind that if ever I got rid of this business and had a house of my own, I would create just such a room. Then when the coffee-cups were cleared away, and we had got our cigars 雪茄 alight 落, my host 主人 swung his long legs over the side of his chair and bade me get started with my yarn 纱.

'I've obeyed 服从 Harry's instructions 指令,' he said, 'and the bribe 贿赂 he offered me was that you would tell me something to wake 醒 me up. I'm ready, Mr Hannay.'

I noticed with a start that he called me by my proper name.

I began at the very beginning. I told of my boredom 无聊 in London, and the night I had come back to find Scudder gibbering on my door‧step 门阶. I told him all Scudder had told me about Karolides and the Foreign Office conference 会议, and that made him purse 钱包 his lips and grin 微笑.

Then I got to the murder, and he grew solemn 庄严的 again. He heard all about the milk‧man 奶‧男人 and my time in Galloway, and my deciphering 解码 Scudder's notes at the inn 小旅馆.

'You've got them here?' he asked sharply, and drew a long breath when I whipped 鞭打 the little book from my pocket.

I said nothing of the contents. Then I described my meeting with Sir Harry, and the speeches at the hall. At that he laughed uproariously.

'Harry talked dashed 短跑 non‧sense 废话, did he? I quite believe it. He's as good a chap 皴裂 as ever breathed 呼吸, but his idiot 白痴 of an uncle 叔叔 has stuffed 塞满；材料 his head with maggots. Go on, Mr Hannay.'

My day as road‧man 路‧男人 excited him a bit. He made me describe the two fellows in the car very closely, and seemed to be raking 耙子 back in his memory. He grew merry 愉快的 again when he heard of the fate 命运 of that ass Jopley.

But the old man in the moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆 house solemnized him. Again I had to describe every detail of his appearance.

'Bland and bald 秃-headed and hooded 引擎罩 his eyes like a bird ... He sounds a sinister 险恶 wild-fowl! And you dynamited his hermitage, after he had saved you from the police. Spirited piece of work, that!' Presently I reached the end of my wanderings 漫步. He got up slowly, and looked down at me from the hearth 炉-rug 小块地毯.

'You may dismiss 解雇 the police from your mind,' he said. 'You're in no danger from the law of this land.'

'Great Scot!' I cried. 'Have they got the murderer?'

'No. But for the last fort‧night 两星期 they have dropped you from the list of possibles.'

'Why?' I asked in amazement 惊愕.

'Principally because I received a letter from Scudder. I knew something of the man, and he did several jobs for me. He was half crank 曲柄, half genius 天才, but he was wholly 全 honest. The trouble about him was his partiality for playing a lone 孤单 hand. That made him pretty well use‧less 无用 in any Secret Service—a pity 怜悯, for he had uncommon 罕见 gifts. I think he was the bravest 勇敢的 man in the world, for he was always shivering 发抖 with fright 恐怖, and yet nothing would choke 呛 him off. I had a letter from him on the 31st of May.'

'But he had been dead a week by then.'

'The letter was written and posted on the 23rd. He evidently 明显地 did not anticipate 预期 an immediate decease 死亡. His communications 通讯 usually took a week to reach me, for they were sent send under cover to Spain and then to Newcastle. He had a mania 狂躁, you know, for concealing 隐藏 his tracks.'

'What did he say?' I stammered.

'Nothing. Merely that he was in danger, but had found shelter with a good friend, and that I would hear from him before the 15th of June. He gave me no address, but said he was living near Portland Place. I think his object was to clear you if anything happened. When I got it I went to Scotland Yard, went over the details of the inquest, and concluded 得出结论 that you were the friend. We made inquiries about you, Mr Hannay, and found you were respect‧able 可敬. I thought I knew the motives 动机 for your disappearance 消失—not only the police, the other one too—and when I got Harry's scrawl I guessed at the rest. I have been expecting you any time this past week.' You can imagine what a load this took off my mind. I felt a free man once more, for I was now up against my country's enemies only, and not my country's law.

'Now let us have the little note-book,' said Sir Walter.

It took us a good hour to work through it. I explained the cypher, and he was jolly 欢乐 quick at picking it up. He emended my reading of it on several points, but I had been fairly correct, on the whole. His face was very grave before he had finished, and he sat silent for a while.

'I don't know what to make of it,' he said at last. 'He is right about one thing—what is going to happen the day after tomorrow. How the devil 魔鬼 can it have got known? That is ugly 难看的 enough in itself 本身. But all this about war and the Black Stone—it reads like some wild melodrama. If only I had more confidence 信心 in Scudder's judgement. The trouble about him was that he was too romantic 浪漫. He had the artistic 艺术的 temperament 气质, and wanted a story to be better than God meant it to be. He had a lot of odd 奇 biases 偏压, too. Jews, for example, made him see red. Jews and the high finance 金融.

'The Black Stone,' he repeated. 'Der Schwarze Stein. It's like a penny 便士 novelette. And all this stuff about Karolides. That is the weak part of the tale 故事，不实之词, for I happen to know that the virtuous 贤 Karolides is likely to out‧last 出‧末尾；持续 us both. There is no State in Europe that wants him gone. Besides, he has just been playing up to Berlin and Vienna and giving my Chief some uneasy 不安 moments. No! Scudder has gone off the track there. Frankly, Hannay, I don't believe that part of his story. There's some nasty 讨厌 business afoot, and he found out too much and lost his life over it. But I am ready to take my oath 誓言 that it is ordinary spy 间谍 work. A certain great European Power makes a hobby 爱好 of her spy 间谍 system, and her methods 方法 are not too particular. Since she pays by piece‧work 块‧工作 her blackguards are not likely to stick at a murder or two. They want our naval 海 dispositions 性格 for their collection at the Marineamt; but they will be pigeon 鸽子-holed—nothing more.'

Just then the butler 男管家 entered the room.

'There's a trunk 树干-call from London, Sir Walter. It's Mr 'Eath, and he wants to speak to you personally 亲自.'

My host 主人 went off to the telephone.

He returned in five minutes with a whitish face. 'I apologize 道歉；认错；谢罪 to the shade 遮阳；阴 of Scudder,' he said. 'Karolides was shot shoot dead this evening at a few minutes after seven 七.'

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Coming of the Black Stone

I came down to breakfast next morning, after eight 八 hours of blessed dream‧less 梦想‧少 sleep, to find Sir Walter decoding 解码 a telegram 电报 in the midst 中间 of muffins and marmalade. His fresh rosiness of yesterday seemed a thought tarnished.

'I had a busy hour on the telephone after you went to bed,' he said. 'I got my Chief to speak to the First Lord and the Secretary for War, and they are bringing Royer over a day sooner. This wire clinches 成交 it. He will be in London at five. Odd 奇 that the code 码 word for a Sous-chef 厨师 d'état Major-General should be "Porker".'

He directed me to the hot dishes 盘 and went on.

'Not that I think it will do much good. If your friends were clever 3 enough to find out the first arrangement 安排 they are clever enough to discover the change. I would give my head to know where the leak 泄漏 is. We believed there were only five men in England who knew about Royer's visit, and you may be certain there were fewer in France, for they manage these things better there.'

While I ate he continued to talk, making me to my surprise a present of his full confidence 信心.

'Can the dispositions 性格 not be changed?' I asked.

'They could,' he said. 'But we want to avoid that if possible. They are the result of immense 极大的 thought, and no alteration 改造 would be as good. Besides, on one or two points change is simply impossible. Still, something could be done, I suppose, if it were absolutely necessary. But you see the difficulty, Hannay. Our enemies are not going to be such fools as to pick Royer's pocket or any childish 幼稚 game like that. They know that would mean a row 行 and put us on our guard. Their aim is to get the details without any one of us knowing, so that Royer will go back to Paris in the belief that the whole business is still deadly secret. If they can't do that they fail, for, once we suspect 怀疑；嫌疑犯, they know that the whole thing must be altered.'

'Then we must stick by the Frenchman's side till he is home again,' I said. 'If they thought they could get the information in Paris they would try there. It means that they have some deep scheme 方案 on foot in London which they reckon 估计 is going to win out.'

'Royer dines 吃饭 with my Chief, and then comes to my house where four people will see him—Whittaker from the Admiralty, myself 我, Sir Arthur Drew, and General Winstanley. The First Lord is ill, and has gone to Sheringham. At my house he will get a certain document 文件 from Whittaker, and after that he will be motored to Portsmouth where a destroyer will take him to Havre. His journey 旅行 is too important for the ordinary boat-train. He will never be left unattended for a moment till he is safe on French soil. The same with Whittaker till he meets Royer. That is the best we can do, and it's hard to see how there can be any miscarriage. But I don't mind admitting that I'm horribly 可怕 nervous 担心的. This murder of Karolides will play the deuce in the chancelleries of Europe.'

After breakfast he asked me if I could drive a car. 'Well, you'll be my chauffeur today and wear Hudson's rig 操纵. You're about his size. You have a hand in this business and we are taking no risks. There are desperate 殊死 men against us, who will not respect the country retreat 撤退 of an over‧work 工作过度 official.'

When I first came to London I had bought buy a car and amused 使人发笑 myself 我 with running about the south of England, so I knew something of the geography 地理. I took Sir Walter to town by the Bath 沐浴 Road and made good going. It was a soft breath‧less 咋舌 June morning, with a promise of sultriness later, but it was delicious 美味的 enough swinging through the little towns with their freshly watered streets, and past the summer gardens of the Thames valley. I landed Sir Walter at his house in Queen 女王 Anne's Gate punctually by half-past eleven 十一. The butler 男管家 was coming up by train with the luggage 行李.

The first thing he did was to take me round to Scotland Yard. There we saw a prim gentleman, with a clean-shaven, lawyer's face.

'I've brought you the Portland Place murderer,' was Sir Walter's introduction 介绍.

The reply was a wry 扭歪 smile. 'It would have been a welcome present, Bullivant. This, I presume 假设, is Mr Richard Hannay, who for some days greatly interested my department.'

'Mr Hannay will interest it again. He has much to tell you, but not today. For certain grave reasons his tale 故事，不实之词 must wait for four hours. Then, I can promise you, you will be entertained and possibly edified. I want you to assure 向…保证；肯定地说 Mr Hannay that he will suffer no further inconvenience 不方便.'

This assurance 保证 was promptly 敏捷的 given. 'You can take up your life where you left off,' I was told. 'Your flat, which probably you no longer wish to occupy 占据, is waiting for you, and your man is still there. As you were never publicly accused 指责, we considered that there was no need of a public exculpation. But on that, of course, you must please your‧self 你自己.'

'We may want your assistance 帮助 later on, MacGillivray,' Sir Walter said as we left.

Then he turned me loose.

'Come and see me tomorrow, Hannay. I needn't tell you to keep deadly quiet. If I were you I would go to bed, for you must have consider‧able 大量 arrears 欠款 of sleep to overtake. You had better lie low, for if one of your Black Stone friends saw you there might be trouble.'

I felt curiously at a loose end. At first it was very pleasant to be a free man, able to go where I wanted without fearing anything. I had only been a month under the ban 禁止 of the law, and it was quite enough for me. I went to the Savoy and ordered very carefully 小心 a very good luncheon 午餐, and then smoked the best cigar 雪茄 the house could provide. But I was still feeling nervous 担心的. When I saw any‧body 任何人 look at me in the lounge 休息室, I grew shy 害羞, and wondered if they were thinking about the murder.

After that I took a taxi 出租车 and drove drive miles away up into North London. I walked back through fields and lines of villas 别墅 and terraces 阳台 and then slums 贫民窟 and mean streets, and it took me pretty nearly two hours. All the while my restlessness was growing worse. I felt that great things, tremendous 巨大 things, were happening or about to happen, and I, who was the cog-wheel of the whole business, was out of it. Royer would be landing at Dover, Sir Walter would be making plans with the few people in England who were in the secret, and somewhere in the darkness 黑暗 the Black Stone would be working. I felt the sense of danger and impending 即将发生 calamity, and I had the curious feeling, too, that I alone could avert 避免 it, alone could grapple 抓钩 with it. But I was out of the game now. How could it be otherwise? It was not likely that Cabinet Ministers and Admiralty Lords and Generals would admit me to their councils.

I actually began to wish that I could run up against one of my three enemies. That would lead to developments. I felt that I wanted enormously 巨大 to have a vulgar 庸俗 scrap 废料 with those gentry 绅, where I could hit out and flat‧ten 变平 something. I was rapidly getting into a very bad temper 性情.

I didn't feel like going back to my flat. That had to be faced some time, but as I still had sufficient 足够 money I thought I would put it off till next morning, and go to a hotel for the night.

My irritation 刺激 lasted through dinner, which I had at a restaurant 饭店 in Jermyn Street. I was no longer hungry 饥饿, and let several courses pass untasted. I drank the best part of a bottle of Burgundy, but it did nothing to cheer 欢呼 me. An abominable restlessness had taken possession 所有物 of me. Here was I, a very ordinary fellow, with no particular brains, and yet I was convinced 说服 that somehow I was needed to help this business through—that without me it would all go to blazes 火焰. I told myself 我 it was sheer silly 愚蠢 conceit, that four or five of the cleverest 聪明的 people living, with all the might of the British Empire 帝国 at their back, had the job in hand. Yet I couldn't be convinced 说服. It seemed as if a voice kept speaking in my ear, telling me to be up and doing, or I would never sleep again.

The upshot was that about half-past nine 九 I made up my mind to go to Queen 女王 Anne's Gate. Very likely I would not be admitted, but it would ease my conscience 良心 to try.

I walked down Jermyn Street, and at the corner of Duke Street passed a group of young men. They were in evening dress, had been dining somewhere, and were going on to a music-hall. One of them was Mr Marmaduke Jopley.

He saw me and stopped short.

'By God, the murderer!' he cried. 'Here, you fellows, hold him! That's Hannay, the man who did the Portland Place murder!' He gripped 握 me by the arm, and the others crowded round. I wasn't looking for any trouble, but my ill-temper made me play the fool. A police‧man 警察 came up, and I should have told him the truth, and, if he didn't believe it, demanded to be taken to Scotland Yard, or for that matter to the nearest police station. But a delay 延迟 at that moment seemed to me unendurable, and the sight of Marmie's imbecile face was more than I could bear. I let out with my left, and had the satisfaction 满足 of seeing him measure his length in the gutter 排水沟.

Then began an unholy row. They were all on me at once, and the police‧man 警察 took me in the rear 后. I got in one or two good blows, for I think, with fair play, I could have licked 舔 the lot of them, but the police‧man 警察 pinned 钉 me behind, and one of them got his fingers on my throat.

Through a black cloud of rage 愤怒 I heard the officer of the law asking what was the matter, and Marmie, between his broken teeth, declaring that I was Hannay the murderer.

'Oh, damn 该死的 it all,' I cried, 'make the fellow shut 关闭 up. I advise you to leave me alone, con‧stable 警官. Scotland Yard knows all about me, and you'll get a proper wigging 假发 if you interfere 干预 with me.'

'You've got to come along of me, young man,' said the police‧man 警察. 'I saw you strike that gentleman crool 'ard. You began it too, for he wasn't doing nothing. I seen you. Best go quietly or I'll have to fix you up.'

Exasperation and an overwhelming 压倒 sense that at no cost must I delay 延迟 gave me the strength of a bull 公牛 elephant 象. I fairly wrenched 扳手 the con‧stable 警官 off his feet, floored the man who was gripping 握 my collar 3, and set off at my best pace 步伐，速度 down Duke Street. I heard a whistle 吹口哨 being blown, and the rush 仓促 of men behind me.

I have a very fair turn of speed, and that night I had wings. In a jiffy I was in Pall Mall and had turned down towards St James's Park. I dodged 躲闪 the police‧man 警察 at the Palace gates 门, dived through a press of carriages 运输 at the entrance 入口 to the Mall, and was making for the bridge before my pursuers had crossed the road‧way 路‧路；方法. In the open ways of the Park I put on a spurt 喷. Happily there were few people about and no one tried to stop me. I was staking 赌注 all on getting to Queen Anne's Gate.

When I entered that quiet thorough‧fare 彻底‧票价 it seemed deserted. Sir Walter's house was in the narrow part, and outside it three or four motor-cars were drawn draw up. I slackened speed some yards off and walked briskly 轻快 up to the door. If the butler 男管家 refused me admission 准许进入, or if he even delayed 延迟 to open the door, I was done.

He didn't delay. I had scarcely rung before the door opened.

'I must see Sir Walter,' I panted 喘气. 'My business is desperately 拼命 important.'

That butler 男管家 was a great man. Without moving a muscle 肌肉，身体部份 he held the door open, and then shut it behind me. 'Sir Walter is engaged 从事, Sir, and I have orders to admit no one. Perhaps you will wait.'

The house was of the old-fashioned kind, with a wide hall and rooms on both sides of it. At the far end was an alcove with a telephone and a couple of chairs, and there the butler 男管家 offered me a seat.

'See here,' I whispered 低声说. 'There's trouble about and I'm in it. But Sir Walter knows, and I'm working for him. If anyone comes and asks if I am here, tell him a lie.'

He nodded 点头, and presently there was a noise 噪音 of voices in the street, and a furious 狂怒 ringing at the bell 钟. I never admired a man more than that butler 男管家. He opened the door, and with a face like a graven image 图片 waited to be questioned. Then he gave them it. He told them whose 谁的 house it was, and what his orders were, and simply froze 使结冰；不动:freeze them off the door‧step 门阶. I could see it all from my alcove, and it was better than any play.

I hadn't waited long till there came another ring at the bell 3. The butler 男管家 made no bones about admitting this new visitor 访问者.

While he was taking off his coat I saw who it was. You couldn't open a newspaper or a magazine 杂志 without seeing that face—the grey 灰色:gray beard 胡须 cut like a spade 铁锹, the firm fighting mouth, the blunt 钝 square nose, and the keen 热切的 blue eyes. I recognized the First Sea Lord, the man, they say, that made the new British Navy.

He passed my alcove and was ushered 招待员 into a room at the back of the hall. As the door opened I could hear the sound of low voices. It shut, and I was left alone again.

For twenty 二十 minutes I sat there, wondering what I was to do next. I was still perfectly convinced 说服 that I was wanted, but when or how I had no notion 概念. I kept looking at my watch, and as the time crept on to half-past ten 十 I began to think that the conference 会议 must soon end. In a quarter of an hour Royer should be speeding along the road to Portsmouth ...

Then I heard a bell ring, and the butler 男管家 appeared. The door of the back room opened, and the First Sea Lord came out. He walked past me, and in passing he glanced 一瞥 in my direction, and for a second we looked each other in the face.

Only for a second, but it was enough to make my heart jump. I had never seen the great man before, and he had never seen me. But in that fraction 分数 of time something sprang into his eyes, and that something was recognition 认识. You can't mistake it. It is a flicker 闪烁, a spark 火花 of light, a minute shade 遮阳；阴 of difference which means one thing and one thing only. It came involuntarily 非自愿, for in a moment it died, and he passed on. In a maze 迷宫 of wild fancies 想像 I heard the street door close behind him.

I picked up the telephone book and looked up the number of his house. We were connected 连接 at once, and I heard a servant 3's voice.

'Is his Lordship at home?' I asked.

'His Lordship returned half an hour ago,' said the voice, 'and has gone to bed. He is not very well tonight 今晚. Will you leave a message, Sir?'

I rang off and almost tumbled 下跌 into a chair. My part in this business was not yet ended. It had been a close shave 剃须, but I had been in time.

Not a moment could be lost, so I marched boldly 胆大的；醒目的 to the door of that back room and entered without knocking.

Five surprised faces looked up from a round table. There was Sir Walter, and Drew the War Minister, whom 谁 I knew from his photographs. There was a slim 瘦 elderly man, who was probably Whittaker, the Admiralty official, and there was General Winstanley, conspicuous 显着 from the long scar 瘢痕 on his fore‧head 前额. Lastly, there was a short stout 肥硕 man with an iron 铁器-grey 灰色:gray moustache and bushy eye‧brow 眉, who had been arrested 逮捕 in the middle of a sentence 句子.

Sir Walter's face showed surprise and annoyance 恼怒.

'This is Mr Hannay, of whom 谁 I have spoken speak to you,' he said apologetically to the company. 'I'm afraid, Hannay, this visit is ill-timed.'

I was getting back my coolness. 'That remains to be seen, Sir,' I said; 'but I think it may be in the nick 缺口 of time. For God's sake 缘故, gentlemen, tell me who went out a minute ago?'

'Lord Alloa,' Sir Walter said, reddening with anger 生气.

'It was not,' I cried; 'it was his living image 图片, but it was not Lord Alloa. It was someone who recognized me, someone I have seen in the last month. He had scarcely left the door‧step 门阶 when I rang up Lord Alloa's house and was told he had come in half an hour before and had gone to bed.'

'Who—who—' someone stammered.

'The Black Stone,' I cried, and I sat down in the chair so recently vacated 空出 and looked round at five badly 4 scared 惊恐 gentlemen.

CHAPTER NINE

The Thirty-Nine Steps

'Nonsense!' said the official from the Admiralty.

Sir Walter got up and left the room while we looked blankly 空白 at the table. He came back in ten 十 minutes with a long face. 'I have spoken to Alloa,' he said. 'Had him out of bed—very grumpy. He went straight home after Mulross's dinner.'

'But it's madness 疯狂,' broke in General Winstanley. 'Do you mean to tell me that that man came here and sat beside me for the best part of half an hour and that I didn't detect 发现，察觉，看出 the imposture? Alloa must be out of his mind.'

'Don't you see the cleverness of it?' I said. 'You were too interested in other things to have any eyes. You took Lord Alloa for granted 发放. If it had been anybody else you might have looked more closely, but it was natural 自然 for him to be here, and that put you all to sleep.'

Then the Frenchman spoke, very slowly and in good English.

'The young man is right. His psychology 心理学 is good. Our enemies have not been foolish 傻!'

He bent bend his wise 明智的；聪明的 brows 眉头 on the assembly 部件.

'I will tell you a tale 故事，不实之词,' he said. 'It happened many years ago in Senegal. I was quartered in a remote 远程 station, and to pass the time used to go fishing for big barbel in the river. A little Arab mare 母马 used to carry my luncheon 午餐 basket 篮—one of the salted dun breed 养育；繁殖 you got at Timbuctoo in the old days. Well, one morning I had good sport, and the mare 母马 was unaccountably rest‧less 不安. I could hear her whinnying and squealing and stamping 邮票 her feet, and I kept soothing 缓和 her with my voice while my mind was intent 意图 on fish. I could see her all the time, as I thought, out of a corner of my eye, tethered to a tree twenty 二十 yards away. After a couple of hours I began to think of food. I collected my fish in a tarpaulin bag 袋, and moved down the stream towards the mare 母马, trolling my line. When I got up to her I flung the tarpaulin on her back—'

He paused 暂停 and looked round.

'It was the smell that gave me warning. I turned my head and found myself 我 looking at a lion 狮子 three feet off ... An old man-eater, that was the terror 恐怖 of the village ... What was left of the mare 母马, a mass of blood and bones and hide, was behind him.'

'What happened?' I asked. I was enough of a hunter to know a true yarn 纱 when I heard it.

'I stuffed my fishing- rod 杆 into his jaws 下巴, and I had a pistol 手枪. Also my servants came presently with rifles 步枪. But he left his mark on me.' He held up a hand which lacked three fingers.

'Consider,' he said. 'The mare 母马 had been dead more than an hour, and the brute 畜生 had been patiently watching me ever since. I never saw the kill, for I was accustomed 使习惯 to the mare 母马's fretting 烦恼, and I never marked her absence 缺席, for my consciousness 意识 of her was only of something tawny, and the lion 狮子 filled that part. If I could blunder 错误 thus, gentlemen, in a land where men's senses are keen 热切的, why should we busy pre‧occupy 全神贯注 urban 城市的 folk 民间 not err 呃 also?'

Sir Walter nodded 点头. No one was ready to gain‧say 获得‧说 him.

'But I don't see,' went on Winstanley. 'Their object was to get these dispositions 性格 without our knowing it. Now it only required one of us to mention to Alloa our meeting tonight 今晚 for the whole fraud 舞弊 to be exposed 暴露.'

Sir Walter laughed dryly. 'The selection 选择 of Alloa shows their acumen. Which of us was likely to speak to him about tonight? Or was he likely to open the subject?'

I remembered the First Sea Lord's reputation 名气 for taciturnity and shortness of temper.

'The one thing that puzzles 使迷惑 me,' said the General, 'is what good his visit here would do that spy 间谍 fellow? He could not carry away several pages of figures and strange names in his head.'

'That is not difficult,' the Frenchman replied. 'A good spy 间谍 is trained to have a photo‧graphic 摄影 memory. Like your own Macaulay. You noticed he said nothing, but went through these papers again and again. I think we may assume 承担 that he has every detail stamped 邮票 on his mind. When I was younger I could do the same trick 哄骗；诀窍.'

'Well, I suppose there is nothing for it but to change the plans,' said Sir Walter rue‧fully 后悔‧完全地.

Whittaker was looking very glum. 'Did you tell Lord Alloa what has happened?' he asked. 'No? Well, I can't speak with absolute assurance 保证, but I'm nearly certain we can't make any serious change unless we alter 改变 the geography 地理 of England.'

'Another thing must be said,' it was Royer who spoke. 'I talked freely when that man was here. I told something of the military 军事 plans of my Government. I was permitted to say so much. But that information would be worth many millions to our enemies. No, my friends, I see no other way. The man who came here and his confederates must be taken, and taken at once.'

'Good God,' I cried, 'and we have not a rag 抹布 of a clue 线索.'

'Besides,' said Whittaker, 'there is the post. By this time the news will be on its way.'

'No,' said the Frenchman. 'You do not understand the habits 习惯 of the spy 间谍. He receives personally 亲自 his reward 报酬, and he delivers personally 亲自 his intelligence 情报. We in France know something of the breed 养育；繁殖. There is still a chance, mes amis. These men must cross the sea, and there are ships to be searched and ports 港口 to be watched. Believe me, the need is desperate 殊死 for both France and Britain.'

Royer's grave good sense seemed to pull us together. He was the man of action among fumblers. But I saw no hope in any face, and I felt none. Where among the fifty 五十 millions of these islands and within a dozen hours were we to lay hands on the three cleverest rogues 流氓 in Europe?

Then suddenly I had an inspiration 灵感.

'Where is Scudder's book?' I cried to Sir Walter. 'Quick, man, I remember something in it.'

He unlocked 开锁 the door of a bureau 局 and gave it to me.

I found the place. thirty 三十-nine 九 steps, I read, and again, thirty 三十-nine 九 steps—I counted them—high tide 潮汐 10.17 P.M.

The Admiralty man was looking at me as if he thought I had gone mad.

'Don't you see it's a clue 线索,' I shouted. 'Scudder knew where these fellows laired—he knew where they were going to leave the country, though he kept the name to himself. Tomorrow was the day, and it was some place where high tide 潮汐 was at 10.17.'

'They may have gone tonight 3,' someone said.

'Not they. They have their own snug secret way, and they won't be hurried. I know Germans, and they are mad about working to a plan. Where the devil 3 can I get a book of Tide Tables?'

Whittaker brightened 变亮 up. 'It's a chance,' he said. 'Let's go over to the Admiralty.'

We got into two of the waiting motor-cars—all but Sir Walter, who went off to Scotland Yard—to 'mobilize 动员 MacGillivray', so he said. We marched through empty corridors 走廊 and big bare 3 chambers 室 where the charwomen were busy, till we reached a little room lined with books and maps 地图. A resident 居民 clerk 店员 was unearthed 挖掘, who presently fetched 取 from the library the Admiralty Tide 3 Tables. I sat at the desk and the others stood round, for somehow or other I had got charge of this expedition 远征.

It was no good. There were hundreds 百 of entries 条目, and so far as I could see 10.17 might cover fifty 五十 places. We had to find some way of narrowing the possibilities 可能性.

I took my head in my hands and thought. There must be some way of reading this riddle 谜语. What did Scudder mean by steps? I thought of dock 码头 steps, but if he had meant that I didn't think he would have mentioned the number. It must be some place where there were several stair‧case 楼梯, and one marked out from the others by having thirty 三十-nine 九 steps.

Then I had a sudden thought, and hunted up all the steamer 蒸汽 sailings 航行；帆. There was no boat which left for the Continent at 10.17 p.m.

Why was high tide so important? If it was a harbour it must be some little place where the tide mattered, or else it was a heavy-draught boat. But there was no regular steamer sailing 航行；帆 at that hour, and somehow I didn't think they would travel by a big boat from a regular harbour. So it must be some little harbour where the tide was important, or perhaps no harbour at all.

But if it was a little port 港口 I couldn't see what the steps signified 表示. There were no sets of stair‧case 楼梯 on any harbour that I had ever seen. It must be some place which a particular stair‧case 楼梯 identified 鉴定, and where the tide was full at 10.17. On the whole it seemed to me that the place must be a bit of open coast. But the stair‧case 楼梯 kept puzzling 使迷惑 me.

Then I went back to wider considerations 考虑. Whereabouts would a man be likely to leave for Germany, a man in a hurry, who wanted a speedy 迅速 and a secret passage? Not from any of the big harbours. And not from the Channel 渠道 or the West Coast or Scotland, for, remember, he was starting from London. I measured the distance on the map 地图, and tried to put myself 我 in the enemy's shoes. I should try for Ostend or Antwerp or Rotterdam, and I should sail 航行；帆 from somewhere on the East Coast between Cromer and Dover.

All this was very loose guessing, and I don't pretend 假装 it was ingenious 巧妙 or scientific. I wasn't any kind of Sherlock Holmes. But I have always fancied I had a kind of instinct 直觉 about questions like this. I don't know if I can explain myself 我, but I used to use my brains as far as they went, and after they came to a blank 空白 wall I guessed, and I usually found my guesses pretty right.

So I set out all my conclusions 结论 on a bit of Admiralty paper. They ran like this:

FAIRLY CERTAIN

(1) Place where there are several sets of stairs 楼梯; one that matters distinguished by having thirty 三十-nine 九 steps.

(2) Full tide at 10.17 p.m. Leaving shore only possible at full tide.

(3) Steps not dock 码头 steps, and so place probably not harbour.

(4) No regular night steamer at 10.17. Means of transport 运输 must be tramp 流浪汉 (unlikely 不会), yacht 游艇, or fishing-boat.

There my reasoning stopped. I made another list, which I headed 'Guessed', but I was just as sure of the one as the other.

GUESSED

(1) Place not harbour but open coast.

(2) Boat small—trawler, yacht 游艇, or launch 发射.

(3) Place somewhere on East Coast between Cromer and Dover.

It struck me as odd 奇 that I should be sitting at that desk with a Cabinet Minister, a Field-Marshal, two high Government officials, and a French General watching me, while from the scribble 涂 of a dead man I was trying to drag 拖拽 a secret which meant life or death for us.

Sir Walter had joined us, and presently MacGillivray arrived. He had sent out instructions 指令 to watch the ports 港口 and rail‧way 铁路 stations for the three men whom 谁 I had described to Sir Walter. Not that he or anybody else thought that that would do much good.

'Here's the most I can make of it,' I said. 'We have got to find a place where there are several stair‧case 楼梯 down to the beach 海滩, one of which has thirty 三十-nine 九 steps. I think it's a piece of open coast with biggish cliffs 悬崖, somewhere between the Wash and the Channel 渠道. Also it's a place where full tide is at 10.17 tomorrow night.'

Then an idea struck me. 'Is there no Inspector of Coastguards or some fellow like that who knows the East Coast?'

Whittaker said there was, and that he lived in Clapham. He went off in a car to fetch 取 him, and the rest of us sat about the little room and talked of anything that came into our heads. I lit a pipe 管子 and went over the whole thing again till my brain grew weary 厌倦.

About one in the morning the coast‧guard 海岸‧警卫 man arrived. He was a fine old fellow, with the look of a naval 海 officer, and was desperately 拼命 respectful 尊敬的 to the company. I left the War Minister to cross-examine him, for I felt he would think it cheek 脸颊 in me to talk.

'We want you to tell us the places you know on the East Coast where there are cliffs, and where several sets of steps run down to the beach 海滩.'

He thought for a bit. 'What kind of steps do you mean, Sir? There are plenty of places with roads cut down through the cliffs, and most roads have a step or two in them. Or do you mean regular stair‧case 楼梯—all steps, so to speak?'

Sir Arthur looked towards me. 'We mean regular stair‧case 楼梯,' I said.

He reflected a minute or two. 'I don't know that I can think of any. Wait a second. There's a place in Norfolk—Brattlesham—beside a golf 高尔夫球-course, where there are a couple of stair‧case 楼梯, to let the gentlemen get a lost ball.'

'That's not it,' I said.

'Then there are plenty of Marine Parades, if that's what you mean. Every sea‧side 海滨 resort 度假胜地 has them.'

I shook my head. 'It's got to be more retired than that,' I said.

'Well, gentlemen, I can't think of any‧where 任何地方 else. Of course, there's the Ruff—'

'What's that?' I asked.

'The big chalk 粉笔 head‧land 头；上端‧陆地；着陆 in Kent, close to Bradgate. It's got a lot of villas 别墅 on the top, and some of the houses have stair‧case 楼梯 down to a private beach 海滩. It's a very high-toned 音 sort of place, and the residents 居民 there like to keep by themselves.'

I tore tear open the Tide Tables and found Bradgate. High tide there was at 10.27 P.m. on the 15th of June.

'We're on the scent 香味 at last,' I cried excitedly. 'How can I find out what is the tide at the Ruff?'

'I can tell you that, Sir,' said the coast‧guard 海岸‧警卫 man. 'I once was lent 把…借给:lend a house there in this very month, and I used to go out at night to the deep-sea fishing. The tide's ten 十 minutes before Bradgate.'

I closed the book and looked round at the company.

'If one of those stair‧case 楼梯 has thirty 三十-nine 九 steps we have solved 解决 the mystery, gentlemen,' I said. 'I want the loan of your car, Sir Walter, and a map 3 of the roads. If Mr MacGillivray will spare 节省；多余的；备用件 me ten 十 minutes, I think we can prepare something for tomorrow.'

It was ridiculous 荒谬 in me to take charge of the business like this, but they didn't seem to mind, and after all I had been in the show from the start. Besides, I was used to rough jobs, and these eminent 杰出 gentlemen were too clever not to see it. It was General Royer who gave me my commission 佣金. 'I for one,' he said, 'am content to leave the matter in Mr Hannay's hands.'

By half-past three I was tearing past the moonlit hedgerows of Kent, with MacGillivray's best man on the seat beside me.

CHAPTER TEN

Various Parties Converging on the Sea

A pink 粉红色的 and blue June morning found me at Bradgate looking from the Griffin Hotel over a smooth sea to the light‧ship 光；灯‧船 on the Cock sands 沙 which seemed the size of a bell-buoy. A couple of miles farther south and much nearer the shore a small destroyer was anchored 锚. Scaife, MacGillivray's man, who had been in the Navy, knew the boat, and told me her name and her commander 命令's, so I sent off a wire to Sir Walter.

After breakfast Scaife got from a house-agent a key for the gates of the stair‧case 楼梯 on the Ruff. I walked with him along the sands, and sat down in a nook of the cliffs while he investigated 调查 the half-dozen of them. I didn't want to be seen, but the place at this hour was quite deserted, and all the time I was on that beach 海滩 I saw nothing but the sea-gulls 鸥.

It took him more than an hour to do the job, and when I saw him coming towards me, conning CON a bit of paper, I can tell you my heart was in my mouth. Everything depended, you see, on my guess proving right.

He read aloud 高声 the number of steps in the different stairs. 'Thirty-four, thirty 三十-five, thirty 三十-nine 九, forty 四十-two, forty 四十-seven 七,' and 'twenty 二十-one' where the cliffs grew lower. I almost got up and shouted.

We hurried back to the town and sent a wire to MacGillivray. I wanted half a dozen men, and I directed them to divide themselves among different specified 具体说明；明确指出 hotels. Then Scaife set out to prospect 展望 the house at the head of the thirty 三十-nine 九 steps.

He came back with news that both puzzled and reassured 再保证 me. The house was called Trafalgar Lodge 存放, and belonged to an old gentleman called Appleton—a retired stock‧broker 股份‧经纪人, the house-agent said. Mr Appleton was there a good deal in the summer time, and was in residence 住宅 now—had been for the better part of a week. Scaife could pick up very little information about him, except that he was a decent 正经 old fellow, who paid his bills regularly 经常, and was always good for a fiver for a local charity 慈善. Then Scaife seemed to have penetrated 穿透 to the back door of the house, pretending 假装 he was an agent for sewing 缝-machines. Only three servants were kept, a cook, a parlour-maid 女佣, and a house‧maid 房屋‧女佣, and they were just the sort that you would find in a respect‧able 可敬 middle-class house‧hold 家庭. The cook was not the gossiping 八卦 kind, and had pretty soon shut the door in his face, but Scaife said he was positive 正 she knew nothing. Next door there was a new house building which would give good cover for observation 意见, and the villa 别墅 on the other side was to let, and its garden was rough and shrubby.

I borrowed 借 Scaife's telescope 望远镜, and before lunch 午餐 went for a walk along the Ruff. I kept well behind the rows 行 of villas 别墅, and found a good observation 意见 point on the edge of the golf 高尔夫球-course. There I had a view of the line of turf 草皮 along the cliff 悬崖 top, with seats placed at intervals 间隔, and the little square plots 情节, railed 围栏；钢轨 in and planted with bushes, whence the stair‧case 楼梯 descended to the beach 海滩. I saw Trafalgar Lodge 存放 very plainly, a red- brick 砖 villa 别墅 with a veranda, a tennis 网球 lawn 草坪 behind, and in front the ordinary sea‧side 海滨 flower-garden full of marguerites and scraggy geraniums. There was a flag‧staff 旗；石地板‧全体职员;参谋 from which an enormous 巨大 Union Jack hung limply 跛行 in the still air.

Presently I observed someone leave the house and saunter along the cliff 悬崖. When I got my glasses on him I saw it was an old man, wearing white flannel trousers 长裤, a blue serge jacket 衣服, and a straw 稻草 hat. He carried field-glasses and a newspaper, and sat down on one of the iron 铁器 seats and began to read. Sometimes he would lay down the paper and turn his glasses on the sea. He looked for a long time at the destroyer. I watched him for half an hour, till he got up and went back to the house for his luncheon 午餐, when I returned to the hotel for mine.

I wasn't feeling very confident 确信的. This decent 正经 common-place dwelling 住 was not what I had expected. The man might be the bald 秃 archaeologist 考古学家 of that horrible 可怕 moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆 farm, or he might not. He was exactly the kind of satisfied old bird you will find in every suburb 市郊 and every holiday 假日 place. If you wanted a type of the perfectly harm‧less 无害 person you would probably pitch 沥青 on that.

But after lunch 午餐, as I sat in the hotel porch 门廊, I perked 额外津贴 up, for I saw the thing I had hoped for and had dreaded 恐惧 to miss. A yacht 游艇 came up from the south and dropped anchor 锚 pretty well opposite the Ruff. She seemed about a hundred 百 and fifty 五十 tons 吨, and I saw she belonged to the Squadron from the white ensign. So Scaife and I went down to the harbour and hired 聘用 a boat‧man 小船‧男人 for an afternoon's fishing.

I spent a warm and peaceful 平静的 afternoon. We caught between us about twenty 二十 pounds of cod 鳕鱼 and lythe, and out in that dancing blue sea I took a cheerier view of things. Above the white cliffs of the Ruff I saw the green and red of the villas 别墅, and especially the great flag‧staff 旗；石地板‧全体职员;参谋 of Trafalgar Lodge 存放. About four o' clock 钟, when we had fished enough, I made the boat‧man 小船‧男人 row us round the yacht 游艇, which lay like a delicate 微妙的；纤弱的 white bird, ready at a moment to flee 逃跑. Scaife said she must be a fast boat for her build, and that she was pretty heavily 很大，沉重地 engined.

Her name was the Ariadne, as I discovered from the cap 盖 of one of the men who was polishing 擦光 brass‧work 黄铜‧工作. I spoke to him, and got an answer in the soft dialect 方言 of Essex. Another hand that came along passed me the time of day in an unmistakable 明白的 English tongue 3. Our boat‧man 小船‧男人 had an argument 论据 with one of them about the weather, and for a few minutes we lay on our oars close to the star‧board 星‧板，上船 bow 弓.

Then the men suddenly disregarded 不顾 us and bent their heads to their work as an officer came along the deck 甲板. He was a pleasant, clean-looking young fellow, and he put a question to us about our fishing in very good English. But there could be no doubt about him. His close-cropped 农作物 head and the cut of his collar and tie never came out of England.

That did something to reassure 再保证 me, but as we rowed 行 back to Bradgate my obstinate doubts would not be dismissed 解雇. The thing that worried me was the reflection 反映 that my enemies knew that I had got my knowledge from Scudder, and it was Scudder who had given me the clue 线索 to this place. If they knew that Scudder had this clue 线索, would they not be certain to change their plans? Too much depended on their success for them to take any risks. The whole question was how much they understood understand about Scudder's knowledge. I had talked confidently 确信的 last night about Germans always sticking to a scheme 方案, but if they had any suspicions 怀疑 that I was on their track they would be fools not to cover it. I wondered if the man last night had seen that I recognized him. Somehow I did not think he had, and to that I had clung. But the whole business had never seemed so difficult as that afternoon when by all calculations 计算 I should have been rejoicing 欢庆 in assured 向…保证；肯定地说 success.

In the hotel I met the commander 命令 of the destroyer, to whom 4 Scaife introduced me, and with whom 5 I had a few words. Then I thought I would put in an hour or two watching Trafalgar Lodge 3.

I found a place farther up the hill, in the garden of an empty house. From there I had a full view of the court, on which two figures were having a game of tennis 网球. One was the old man, whom I had already seen; the other was a younger fellow, wearing some club colours in the scarf 围巾 round his middle. They played with tremendous 巨大 zest, like two city gents who wanted hard exercise to open their pores 孔. You couldn't conceive 构想 a more innocent 无辜 spectacle 场面；眼镜. They shouted and laughed and stopped for drinks, when a maid 女佣 brought out two tankards on a salver. I rubbed 擦 my eyes and asked myself 我 if I was not the most immortal 不朽 fool on earth. Mystery and darkness 黑暗 had hung about the men who hunted me over the Scotch moor 泊 in aeroplane and motor-car, and not‧able 特别是 about that infernal antiquarian. It was easy enough to connect 连接 those folk 民间 with the knife that pinned Scudder to the floor, and with fell designs on the world's peace. But here were two guileless citizens taking their innocuous exercise, and soon about to go indoors 室内的 to a hum‧drum 哼‧鼓 dinner, where they would talk of market prices and the last cricket 蟋蟀 scores 得分了 and the gossip 八卦 of their native 本土的 Surbiton. I had been making a net 网 to catch vultures and falcons, and lo and behold 不料! two plump 丰满 thrushes had blundered 错误 into it.

Presently a third figure arrived, a young man on a bicycle 自行车, with a bag of golf 高尔夫球-clubs slung on his back. He strolled 漫步 round to the tennis 网球 lawn 草坪 and was welcomed riotously by the players 播放机. Evidently they were chaffing him, and their chaff sounded horribly 可怕 English. Then the plump 丰满 man, mopping 拖把 his brow 眉头 with a silk 丝 handkerchief 手帕, announced 宣布 that he must have a tub 桶. I heard his very words—'I've got into a proper lather,' he said. 'This will bring down my weight and my handicap 阻碍, Bob. I'll take you on tomorrow and give you a stroke 一击;轻抚 a hole.' You couldn't find anything much more English than that.

They all went into the house, and left me feeling a precious 宝贵的 idiot 白痴. I had been barking 吠 up the wrong tree this time. These men might be acting; but if they were, where was their audience? They didn't know I was sitting thirty 三十 yards off in a rhododendron. It was simply impossible to believe that these three hearty 爽朗 fellows were anything but what they seemed—three ordinary, game-playing, sub‧urban 郊区的 Englishmen, wearisome, if you like, but sordidly innocent 无辜.

And yet there were three of them; and one was old, and one was plump 丰满, and one was lean and dark; and their house chimed 钟 in with Scudder's notes; and half a mile off was lying a steam 蒸汽 yacht 游艇 with at least one German officer. I thought of Karolides lying dead and all Europe trembling 发抖 on the edge of earthquake 地震, and the men I had left behind me in London who were waiting anxiously 焦急的 for the events of the next hours. There was no doubt that hell 地狱 was afoot somewhere. The Black Stone had won, and if it survived 生存 this June night would bank its winnings.

There seemed only one thing to do—go forward as if I had no doubts, and if I was going to make a fool of myself 我 to do it hand‧some 英俊. Never in my life have I faced a job with greater disinclination. I would rather in my then mind have walked into a den 巢穴 of anarchists 无政府主义者, each with his Browning handy 便利, or faced a charging lion 狮子 with a popgun, than enter that happy home of three cheerful 快乐 Englishmen and tell them that their game was up. How they would laugh at me!

But suddenly I remembered a thing I once heard in Rhodesia from old Peter Pienaar. I have quoted 引用 Peter already in this narrative 叙述. He was the best scout 侦察 I ever knew, and before he had turned respect‧able 可敬 he had been pretty often on the windy 有风 side of the law, when he had been wanted badly 5 by the authorities 权威. Peter once discussed with me the question of disguises 伪装, and he had a theory 理论 which struck me at the time. He said, barring absolute certainties 确定性 like finger‧print 指纹, mere physical 物理 traits 特征 were very little use for identification 鉴定 if the fugitive 逃亡 really knew his business. He laughed at things like dyed 染料 hair and false 虚伪的 beards 胡须 and such childish 幼稚 follies 蠢事. The only thing that mattered was what Peter called 'atmosphere 大气层'.

If a man could get into perfectly different surroundings from those in which he had been first observed, and—this is the important part—really play up to these surroundings and behave 表现 as if he had never been out of them, he would puzzle 使迷惑 the cleverest detectives 侦探 on earth. And he used to tell a story of how he once borrowed a black coat and went to church and shared the same hymn 圣歌-book with the man that was looking for him. If that man had seen him in decent 正经 company before he would have recognized him; but he had only seen him snuffing the lights in a public-house with a revolver 围绕.

The recollection 回忆 of Peter's talk gave me the first real comfort that I had had that day. Peter had been a wise old bird, and these fellows I was after were about the pick of the aviary. What if they were playing Peter's game? A fool tries to look different: a clever man looks the same and is different.

Again, there was that other maxim of Peter's which had helped me when I had been a road‧man 路‧男人. 'If you are playing a part, you will never keep it up unless you convince 说服 your‧self 你自己 that you are it.' That would explain the game of tennis 网球. Those chaps 皴裂 didn't need to act, they just turned a handle and passed into another life, which came as naturally 自然地 to them as the first. It sounds a platitude, but Peter used to say that it was the big secret of all the famous 著名 criminals 罪犯.

It was now getting on for eight 八 o'clock 3, and I went back and saw Scaife to give him his instructions 指令. I arranged with him how to place his men, and then I went for a walk, for I didn't feel up to any dinner. I went round the deserted golf 高尔夫球-course, and then to a point on the cliffs farther north beyond the line of the villas 别墅.

On the little trim 修剪 newly 最近，新近-made roads I met people in flannels coming back from tennis 网球 and the beach 海滩, and a coast‧guard 海岸‧警卫 from the wire‧less 无线 station, and donkeys 驴 and pierrots padding 垫 homewards. Out at sea in the blue dusk 黄昏 I saw lights appear on the Ariadne and on the destroyer away to the south, and beyond the Cock sands the bigger lights of steamers 汽船 making for the Thames. The whole scene was so peaceful 平静的 and ordinary that I got more dashed 短跑 in spirits every second. It took all my resolution 解析度 to stroll 漫步 towards Trafalgar Lodge about half-past nine 九.

On the way I got a piece of solid comfort from the sight of a greyhound that was swinging along at a nurse‧maid 护士‧女佣's heels 脚跟. He reminded me of a dog I used to have in Rhodesia, and of the time when I took him hunting with me in the Pali hills. We were after rhebok, the dun kind, and I recollected how we had followed one beast 野兽, and both he and I had clean lost it. A greyhound works by sight, and my eyes are good enough, but that buck 降压 simply leaked 泄漏 out of the landscape 景观. Afterwards I found out how it managed it. Against the grey 灰色:gray rock of the kopjes it showed no more than a crow 乌鸦 against a thunder‧cloud 雷声‧云. It didn't need to run away; all it had to do was to stand still and melt 熔化 into the back‧ground 背景.

Suddenly as these memories chased 追 across my brain I thought of my present case and applied the moral. The Black Stone didn't need to bolt 螺栓. They were quietly absorbed 吸收 into the landscape 景观. I was on the right track, and I jammed 果酱 that down in my mind and vowed 发誓 never to forget it. The last word was with Peter Pienaar.

Scaife's men would be posted now, but there was no sign of a soul. The house stood as open as a market-place for anybody to observe. A three-foot railing 围栏；钢轨 separated it from the cliff 悬崖 road; the windows on the ground-floor were all open, and shaded 遮阳；阴 lights and the low sound of voices revealed 揭示 where the occupants 占有者 were finishing dinner. Everything was as public and above-board as a charity 慈善 bazaar. Feeling the greatest fool on earth, I opened the gate and rang the bell.

A man of my sort, who has travelled about the world in rough places, gets on perfectly well with two classes, what you may call the upper and the lower. He understands them and they understand him. I was at home with herds 放牧 and tramps 流浪汉 and roadmen, and I was sufficiently 充分地 at my ease with people like Sir Walter and the men I had met the night before. I can't explain why, but it is a fact. But what fellows like me don't understand is the great comfort‧able 舒服；自在, satisfied middle-class world, the folk 民间 that live in villas 别墅 and suburbs 市郊. He doesn't know how they look at things, he doesn't understand their conventions 惯例, and he is as shy 害羞 of them as of a black mamba. When a trim 修剪 parlour-maid 女佣 opened the door, I could hardly find my voice.

I asked for Mr Appleton, and was ushered 招待员 in. My plan had been to walk straight into the dining-room, and by a sudden appearance wake 醒 in the men that start of recognition 认识 which would confirm 确认 my theory 理论. But when I found myself 我 in that neat 整洁的 hall the place mastered me. There were the golf 高尔夫球-clubs and tennis 网球-rackets 球拍, the straw 稻草 hats and caps 盖, the rows of gloves 手套, the sheaf of walking-sticks, which you will find in ten 十 thou‧sand 千 British homes. A stack 堆 of neatly folded 折叠 coats and water‧proof 防水 covered the top of an old oak 橡木 chest 胸部; there was a grand‧father 祖父 clock ticking 蜱; and some polished 擦光 brass 黄铜 warming-pans 平底锅 on the walls, and a barometer, and a print of Chiltern winning the St Leger. The place was as orthodox 正统 as an Anglican church. When the maid 女佣 asked me for my name I gave it automatically 自动, and was shown into the smoking-room, on the right side of the hall.

That room was even worse. I hadn't time to examine it, but I could see some framed group photographs above the mantelpiece, and I could have sworn 发誓:swear they were English public school or college. I had only one glance 一瞥, for I managed to pull myself 我 together and go after the maid 女佣. But I was too late. She had already entered the dining-room and given my name to her master, and I had missed the chance of seeing how the three took it.

When I walked into the room the old man at the head of the table had risen and turned round to meet me. He was in evening dress—a short coat and black tie, as was the other, whom I called in my own mind the plump 丰满 one. The third, the dark fellow, wore a blue serge suit and a soft white collar, and the colours of some club or school.

The old man's manner was perfect. 'Mr Hannay?' he said hesitatingly. 'Did you wish to see me? One moment, you fellows, and I'll rejoin 归队 you. We had better go to the smoking-room.'

Though I hadn't an ounce 盎司 of confidence in me, I forced myself 我 to play the game. I pulled up a chair and sat down on it.

'I think we have met before,' I said, 'and I guess you know my business.'

The light in the room was dim 暗淡, but so far as I could see their faces, they played the part of mystification very well.

'Maybe, maybe,' said the old man. 'I haven't a very good memory, but I'm afraid you must tell me your errand 使命, Sir, for I really don't know it.'

'Well, then,' I said, and all the time I seemed to myself 我 to be talking pure foolishness—'I have come to tell you that the game's up. I have a war‧rant 保证 for the arrest 逮捕 of you three gentlemen.'

' Arrest,' said the old man, and he looked really shocked. 'Arrest! Good God, what for?'

'For the murder of Franklin Scudder in London on the 23rd day of last month.'

'I never heard the name before,' said the old man in a dazed 迷乱 voice.

One of the others spoke up. 'That was the Portland Place murder. I read about it. Good heavens 天, you must be mad, Sir! Where do you come from?'

'Scotland Yard,' I said.

After that for a minute there was utter 说出 silence. The old man was staring at his plate 盘子 and fumbling 摸索 with a nut 螺母, the very model of innocent 无辜 bewilderment.

Then the plump 丰满 one spoke up. He stammered a little, like a man picking his words.

'Don't get flustered, uncle 叔叔,' he said. 'It is all a ridiculous 荒谬 mistake; but these things happen sometimes, and we can easily set it right. It won't be hard to prove our innocence 无辜. I can show that I was out of the country on the 23rd of May, and Bob was in a nursing home. You were in London, but you can explain what you were doing.'

'Right, Percy! Of course that's easy enough. The 23rd! That was the day after Agatha's wedding 结婚. Let me see. What was I doing? I came up in the morning from Woking, and lunched 午餐 at the club with Charlie Symons. Then—oh yes, I dined 吃饭 with the Fishmongers. I remember, for the punch 冲床 didn't agree with me, and I was seedy next morning. Hang it all, there's the cigar 雪茄-box I brought back from the dinner.' He pointed to an object on the table, and laughed nervously 担心的.

'I think, Sir,' said the young man, addressing me respectfully 尊敬, 'you will see you are mistaken 错误. We want to assist 帮助；协助；援助 the law like all Englishmen, and we don't want Scotland Yard to be making fools of themselves. That's so, uncle?'

'Certainly, Bob.' The old fellow seemed to be recovering 恢复 his voice. 'Certainly, we'll do anything in our power to assist the authorities 权威. But—but this is a bit too much. I can't get over it.'

'How Nellie will chuckle 暗笑,' said the plump 丰满 man. 'She always said that you would die of boredom 无聊 because nothing ever happened to you. And now you've got it thick and strong,' and he began to laugh very pleasantly.

'By Jove, yes. Just think of it! What a story to tell at the club. Really, Mr Hannay, I suppose I should be angry 生气的, to show my innocence 无辜, but it's too funny 有趣的! I almost for‧give 原谅 you the fright you gave me! You looked so glum, I thought I might have been walking in my sleep and killing people.'

It couldn't be acting, it was too confoundedly genuine 真正. My heart went into my boots, and my first impulse 冲动 was to apologize 道歉；认错；谢罪 and clear out. But I told myself 我 I must see it through, even though I was to be the laughing-stock of Britain. The light from the dinner-table candlesticks was not very good, and to cover my confusion 混乱 I got up, walked to the door and switched 开关 on the electric light. The sudden glare 强光 made them blink 眨, and I stood scanning 扫描 the three faces.

Well, I made nothing of it. One was old and bald 秃, one was stout 肥硕, one was dark and thin. There was nothing in their appearance to prevent them being the three who had hunted me in Scotland, but there was nothing to identify 鉴定 them. I simply can't explain why I who, as a road‧man 路‧男人, had looked into two pairs of eyes, and as Ned Ainslie into another pair, why I, who have a good memory and reasonable powers of observation 意见, could find no satisfaction 满足. They seemed exactly what they professed 宣称 to be, and I could not have sworn to one of them.

There in that pleasant dining-room, with etchings 蚀刻 on the walls, and a picture of an old lady in a bib above the mantelpiece, I could see nothing to connect 连接 them with the moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆 desperadoes. There was a silver 银 cigarette 香烟，纸烟-box beside me, and I saw that it had been won by Percival Appleton, Esq., of the St Bede's Club, in a golf 高尔夫球 tournament 比赛. I had to keep a firm hold of Peter Pienaar to prevent myself 我 bolting 螺栓 out of that house.

'Well,' said the old man politely 有礼貌的, 'are you reassured 再保证 by your scrutiny 审查, Sir?'

I couldn't find a word.

'I hope you'll find it consistent 一贯 with your duty to drop this ridiculous 荒谬 business. I make no complaint 抱怨, but you'll see how annoying 打扰 it must be to respect‧able 可敬 people.'

I shook my head.

'O Lord,' said the young man. 'This is a bit too thick!'

'Do you propose to march 行军；三月 us off to the police station?' asked the plump 丰满 one. 'That might be the best way out of it, but I suppose you won't be content with the local branch. I have the right to ask to see your war‧rant 保证, but I don't wish to cast 投 any aspersions upon you. You are only doing your duty. But you'll admit it's horribly 可怕 awkward 难堪. What do you propose to do?'

There was nothing to do except to call in my men and have them arrested, or to confess 供认 my blunder 错误 and clear out. I felt mesmerized by the whole place, by the air of obvious 明显 innocence 无辜—not innocence 无辜 merely, but frank 坦率 honest bewilderment and concern in the three faces.

'Oh, Peter Pienaar,' I groaned 呻吟 inwardly 向内的, and for a moment I was very near damning 该死的 myself 我 for a fool and asking their pardon 宽恕；说啥？.

' Meantime 其时 I vote we have a game of bridge,' said the plump 丰满 one. 'It will give Mr Hannay time to think over things, and you know we have been wanting a fourth player. Do you play, Sir?'

I accepted as if it had been an ordinary invitation 邀请 at the club. The whole business had mesmerized me. We went into the smoking-room where a card-table was set out, and I was offered things to smoke and drink. I took my place at the table in a kind of dream. The window was open and the moon was flooding 洪水 the cliffs and sea with a great tide of yellow light. There was moon‧shine 月亮‧发光, too, in my head. The three had recovered 恢复 their composure, and were talking easily—just the kind of slangy talk you will hear in any golf 高尔夫球 club-house. I must have cut a rum 朗姆酒 figure, sitting there knitting 针织 my brows 眉头 with my eyes wandering 漫步.

My partner 伙伴 was the young dark one. I play a fair hand at bridge, but I must have been rank 排列 bad that night. They saw that they had got me puzzled, and that put them more than ever at their ease. I kept looking at their faces, but they conveyed 传达 nothing to me. It was not that they looked different; they were different. I clung desperately 拼命 to the words of Peter Pienaar.

Then something awoke 醒着的:awake me.

The old man laid down his hand to light a cigar 雪茄. He didn't pick it up at once, but sat back for a moment in his chair, with his fingers tapping 敲；龙头；汲取（液体） on his knees.

It was the movement 运动 I remembered when I had stood before him in the moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆 farm, with the pistols 手枪 of his servants behind me.

A little thing, lasting only a second, and the odds 奇 were a thou‧sand 千 to one that I might have had my eyes on my cards at the time and missed it. But I didn't, and, in a flash 使闪光, the air seemed to clear. Some shadow lifted from my brain, and I was looking at the three men with full and absolute recognition.

The clock on the mantelpiece struck ten 十 o'clock.

The three faces seemed to change before my eyes and reveal 揭示 their secrets. The young one was the murderer. Now I saw cruelty 残酷 and ruthlessness, where before I had only seen good-humour. His knife, I made certain, had skewered Scudder to the floor. His kind had put the bullet 子弹 in Karolides.

The plump 丰满 man's features 特征 seemed to dislimn, and form again, as I looked at them. He hadn't a face, only a hundred 百 masks 面具 that he could assume 承担 when he pleased. That chap 皴裂 must have been a superb 高超 actor 演员. Perhaps he had been Lord Alloa of the night before; perhaps not; it didn't matter. I wondered if he was the fellow who had first tracked 小路 Scudder, and left his card on him. Scudder had said he lisped, and I could imagine how the adoption 采用；收养 of a lisp might add terror 恐怖.

But the old man was the pick of the lot. He was sheer brain, icy 冷冰冰, cool, calculating 计算, as ruthless 无情 as a steam 蒸汽 hammer 铁锤. Now that my eyes were opened I wondered where I had seen the benevolence. His jaw 下巴 was like chilled 寒意 steel 钢, and his eyes had the inhuman luminosity of a bird's. I went on playing, and every second a greater hate welled up in my heart. It almost choked 呛 me, and I couldn't answer when my partner 伙伴 spoke. Only a little longer could I endure 忍受 their company.

'Whew! Bob! Look at the time,' said the old man. 'You'd better think about catching your train. Bob's got to go to town tonight,' he added, turning to me. The voice rang now as false 3 as hell 地狱. I looked at the clock, and it was nearly half-past ten 十.

'I am afraid he must put off his journey 旅行,' I said.

'Oh, damn 该死的,' said the young man. 'I thought you had dropped that rot 腐烂. I've simply got to go. You can have my address, and I'll give any security 安全 you like.'

'No,' I said, 'you must stay.'

At that I think they must have realized that the game was desperate 殊死. Their only chance had been to convince 说服 me that I was playing the fool, and that had failed. But the old man spoke again.

'I'll go bail 保释 for my nephew 侄子. That ought to content you, Mr Hannay.' Was it fancy 想像, or did I detect 发现，察觉，看出 some halt 停 in the smoothness of that voice?

There must have been, for as I glanced 一瞥 at him, his eyelids 眼皮 fell in that hawk 鹰-like hood 引擎罩 which fear had stamped on my memory.

I blew blow my whistle 吹口哨.

In an instant 瞬间 the lights were out. A pair of strong arms gripped 握 me round the waist 腰, covering the pockets in which a man might be expected to carry a pistol 手枪.

'Schnell, Franz,' cried a voice, 'Das Boot 靴；鞋, das Boot!' As it spoke I saw two of my fellows emerge 出现 on the moonlit lawn 草坪.

The young dark man leapt for the window, was through it, and over the low fence 栅栏 before a hand could touch him. I grappled 抓钩 the old chap 皴裂, and the room seemed to fill with figures. I saw the plump 丰满 one collared 衣领, but my eyes were all for the out-of-doors, where Franz sped on over the road towards the railed entrance 入口 to the beach 海滩 stairs. One man followed him, but he had no chance. The gate of the stairs locked behind the fugitive 逃亡, and I stood staring, with my hands on the old boy's throat, for such a time as a man might take to descend 下来 those steps to the sea.

Suddenly my prisoner 犯人，囚犯 broke from me and flung himself on the wall. There was a click 点击 as if a lever 杠杆 had been pulled. Then came a low rumbling 隆隆 far, far below the ground, and through the window I saw a cloud of chalky dust pouring out of the shaft 轴 of the stair‧way 楼梯‧路；方法.

Someone switched 开关 on the light.

The old man was looking at me with blazing 火焰 eyes.

'He is safe,' he cried. 'You cannot follow in time ... He is gone ... He has triumphed 胜利 ... Der Schwarze Stein ist in der Siegeskrone.'

There was more in those eyes than any common triumph 胜利. They had been hooded 引擎罩 like a bird of prey 猎物, and now they flamed 火焰 with a hawk 鹰's pride 自尊. A white fanatic 狂热的 heat burned burn in them, and I realized for the first time the terrible thing I had been up against. This man was more than a spy 间谍; in his foul 犯规 way he had been a patriot 爱国者.

As the hand‧cuff 杻 clinked on his wrists 腕 I said my last word to him.

'I hope Franz will bear his triumph 胜利 well. I ought to tell you that the Ariadne for the last hour has been in our hands.'

Three weeks later, as all the world knows, we went to war. I joined the New Army the first week, and owing 欠…债 to my Matabele experience got a captain's commission 佣金 straight off. But I had done my best service, I think, before I put on khaki.