I was getting to like the little chap. His
jaw had shut like a rat-trap, and there was the fire of battle in his gimlety eyes. If he was spinning me a yarn he could act up to
it.
'Where did you find out this story?' I
asked.
'I got the first hint in an inn on the Achensee in Tyrol. That set me
inquiring, and I collected my other clues in a fur-shop in the Galician quarter
of Buda, in a Strangers' Club in Vienna, and in a little bookshop off the Racknitzstrasse
in Leipsic. I completed my evidence ten days ago in Paris. I can't tell you the
details now, for it's something of a history. When I was quite sure in my own
mind I judged it my business to disappear, and I reached this city by a mighty
queer circuit. I left Paris a dandified young French-American, and I sailed
from Hamburg a Jew diamond merchant. In Norway I was an English student of
Ibsen collecting materials for lectures, but when I left Bergen I was a cinema-man with special ski films. And I came here
from Leith with a lot of pulp-wood propositions in my pocket to
put before the London newspapers. Till yesterday I thought I had muddied my trail some, and was feeling
pretty happy.
Then ...'
The recollection seemed to upset him, and
he gulped down some more whisky.
'Then I saw a man standing in the street
outside this block. I used to stay close in my room all day, and only slip out
after dark for an hour or two. I watched him for a bit from my window, and I
thought I recognized him ... He came in and spoke to the porter ... When I came
back from my walk last night I found a card in my letter-box. It bore the name
of the man I want least to meet on God's earth.'
I think that the look in my companion's
eyes, the sheer naked scare on his face, completed my conviction of his honesty.
My own voice sharpened a bit as I asked him what he did next.
'I realized that I was bottled as sure as
a pickled herring, and that there
was only one way out. I had to die. If my pursuers knew I was dead they would
go to sleep again.'
'How did you manage it?'
'I told the man that valets me that I was
feeling pretty bad, and I got myself up to look like death. That wasn't
difficult, for I'm no slouch at
disguises. Then I got a corpse—you can always get a body in London if you know
where to go for it. I fetched it back in a trunk on the top of a four-wheeler,
and I had to be assisted upstairs to my room. You see I had to pile up some
evidence for the inquest. I went to bed and got my man to mix me a sleeping-draught, and then told him to
clear out. He wanted to fetch a doctor, but I swore some and said I couldn't abide leeches. When I was left alone I
started in to fake up that corpse. He was my size, and I judged had perished
from too much alcohol, so I put some spirits handy about the place. The jaw was
the weak point in the likeness, so I blew it away with a revolver. I daresay
there will be somebody tomorrow to swear to having heard a shot, but there are
no neighbours on my floor, and I guessed I could risk it. So I left the body in
bed dressed up in my pyjamas, with a revolver lying on the bed-clothes and a
considerable mess around. Then I got into a suit of clothes I had kept waiting
for emergencies. I didn't dare to shave for fear of leaving tracks, and
besides, it wasn't any kind of use my trying to get into the streets. I had had
you in my mind all day, and there seemed nothing to do but to make an appeal to
you. I watched from my window till I saw you come home, and then slipped down
the stair to meet you ... There, Sir, I guess you know about as much as me of
this business.'
He sat blinking like an owl, fluttering with nerves and yet
desperately determined. By this time I was pretty well convinced that he was
going straight with me. It was the wildest sort of narrative, but I had heard
in my time many steep tales which
had turned out to be true, and I had made a practice of judging the man rather
than the story. If he had wanted to get a location in my flat, and then cut my
throat, he would have pitched a milder
yarn.
Book: The Thirty-Nine
Steps - Author: John Buchan
Vocabulary
Gimlet:penetrating
spin a yarn:
make up a story
Achensee: The Lake Achen is a lake north of Jenbach in Tyrol,
Austria.
Bergen: A city of southwest Norway on inlets of the North Sea
Leith: is a district and former municipal burgh to the north
of the city of Edinburgh
pulp-wood: timber with the
principal use of making wood
pulp for paper production
muddy: To make obscure or confused
pickled herring: herring preserved in a pickling
liquid (usually brine or vinegar)
slouch: An awkward, lazy, or inept person
sleeping-draught: any drink containing a drug or agent
that induces sleep
abide: tolerate
leech: parasite
fluttering: To move quickly in a nervous,
restless, or excited fashion
steep: exorbitant
yarn: story
Resources in the Internet
Making of the 39 steps, Robert Powell
(documentary about the filming of 39 steps broadcasted by the BBC in 2003)
Learn
English with us. We are in Salta and adapt our programs to your company.
0387-4249157. 4400 Salta, Argentina.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario
Deja aquí tus mensajes, comentarios o críticas. Serán bienvenidos