The Thirty-Nine Steps

rty-Nin

the official fr

ame back in ten minutes with a long face. 'I have spoken to Alloa,' he said. '

that that man came here and sat beside me for the best part of half an ho

have any eyes. You took Lord Alloa for granted. If it had been anybody else you might have

spoke, very slowly

psychology is good. Our ene

ise brows on

uctoo in the old days. Well, one morning I had good sport, and the mare was unaccountably restless. I could hear her whinnying and squealing and stamping her feet, and I kept soothing her with my voice while my mind was intent on fish. I could see her all the time, as I thoug

and look

at a lion three feet off ... An old man-eater, that was the terror of the village

as enough of a hunter to know

Also my servants came presently with rifles. But he left hi

I was accustomed to the mare's fretting, and I never marked her absence, for my consciousness of her was only of something tawny, and the lion fi

. No one was read

ispositions without our knowing it. Now it only required one of us to m

s their acumen. Which of us was likely to speak to him

ord's reputation for tacitur

od his visit here would do that spy fellow? He could not carry

e your own Macaulay. You noticed he said nothing, but went through these papers again and again. I think

ing for it but to change the p

he asked. 'No? Well, I can't speak with absolute assurance, but I'm nearly cer

litary plans of my Government. I was permitted to say so much. But that information would be worth many millions to our e

d, 'and we have no

here is the post. By this tim

onally his intelligence. We in France know something of the breed. There is still a chance, mes amis. These men must cross the

. But I saw no hope in any face, and I felt none. Where among the fifty millions of these is

ly I had an

ried to Sir Walter. 'Quick, ma

oor of a bureau a

, I read, and again, thirty-nine ste

looking at me as if he

he knew where they were going to leave the country, though he kept the name to hi

gone tonight,

't be hurried. I know Germans, and they are mad about workin

's a chance,' he said. 'Let'

rridors and big bare chambers where the charwomen were busy, till we reached a little room lined with books and maps. A resident clerk was unearthed, who prese

o far as I could see 10.17 might cover fifty places.

eps? I thought of dock steps, but if he had meant that I didn't think he would have mentioned the number. It must

all the steamer sailings. There was no boat

eavy-draught boat. But there was no regular steamer sailing at that hour, and somehow I didn't think they would travel by a

that I had ever seen. It must be some place which a particular staircase identified, and where the tide was full at

any of the big harbours. And not from the Channel or the West Coast or Scotland, for, remember, he was starting from London. I measured the distance on the map, and

t I have always fancied I had a kind of instinct about questions like this. I don't know if I can explain myself, but I used t

sions on a bit of Admiralt

LY C

ts of stairs; one that matters disti

p.m. Leaving shore only

teps, and so place p

17. Means of transport must be tram

er list, which I headed 'Guessed', but I

ES

t harbour bu

l-trawler, ya

on East Coast betw

ld-Marshal, two high Government officials, and a French General watching me, while from

uctions to watch the ports and railway stations for the three men whom I had descri

down to the beach, one of which has thirty-nine steps. I think it's a piece of open coast with biggish cliff

Inspector of Coastguards or some fell

him, and the rest of us sat about the little room and talked of anything that came int

he look of a naval officer, and was desperately respectful to the company. I left the

the East Coast where there are cliffs, and wher

of places with roads cut down through the cliffs, and most roads have a ste

rds me. 'We mean regul

a second. There's a place in Norfolk-Brattlesham-beside a golf-course, whe

not it,'

Parades, if that's what you mea

s got to be more reti

think of anywhere else. Of

that?'

he top, and some of the houses have staircases down to a private beach. It's a ve

und Bradgate. High tide there was

ried excitedly. 'How can I find o

ent a house there in this very month, and I used to go out at nigh

k and looked rou

en,' I said. 'I want the loan of your car, Sir Walter, and a map of the roads. If Mr

n the show from the start. Besides, I was used to rough jobs, and these eminent gentlemen were too clever not to see it. I

e moonlit hedgerows of Kent, with MacGil