In the middle of
my meal he spoke suddenly to me in German, but I turned on him
a face as blank 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 overland to my
brother at Wigtown. I had run short of cash--I hinted vaguely at a
spree--and I was pretty well on my uppers when I had come on a
hole in a hedge, and, looking through, had seen a big motor-car
lying in the burn. I had poked about to see what had happened, and
had found three sovereigns lying on the seat and one on the floor.
There was nobody there or any sign of an owner, so I had pocketed
the cash. But somehow the law had got after me. When I had tried
to change a sovereign in a baker'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, and had only got away by leaving my
coat and waistcoat 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, nobody would
have troubled you.'
'You're a good liar, Hannay,' he said.
I flew into a rage. 'Stop fooling, damn you! I tell you my name's
Ainslie, and I never heard of anyone called Hannay in my born
days. I'd sooner have the police than you with your Hannays and
your monkey-faced pistol tricks .
Pages:
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104