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The Thirty-nine Steps-Part11_John Buchan(1875-1940)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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I crawled down the broken ladder, scattering chaff behind me to



cover my footsteps. I did the same on the mill floor, and on the

threshold where the door hung on broken hinges. Peeping out, I



saw that between me and the dovecot was a piece of bare cobbled

ground, where no footmarks would show. Also it was mercifully



hid by the mill buildings from any view from the house. I slipped

across the space, got to the back of the dovecot and prospected a



way of ascent.

That was one of the hardest jobs I ever took on. My shoulder



and arm ached like hell, and I was so sick and giddy that I was

always on the verge of falling. But I managed it somehow. By the



use of out-jutting stones and gaps in the masonry and a tough 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 to go off into

an old-fashioned swoon.



I woke with a burning head and the sun glaring in my face. For a

long time I lay motionless, for those horrible fumes seemed to have



loosened my joints and dulled my brain. Sounds came to me from

the house - men speaking throatily and the throbbing of a stationary



car. There was a little gap in the parapet to which I wriggled, and

from which I had some sort of prospect of the yard. I saw figures



come out - a servant with his head bound 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 on the nail, 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.

For half an hour they ransacked the mill. I could hear them



kicking over the barrels and pulling up the rotten planking. Then

they came outside, and stood just below the dovecot arguing



fiercely. The servant with the bandage was being soundly rated. I

heard them fiddling with the door of the dovecote and for one



horrid moment I fancied they were coming up. Then they thought

better of it, and went back to the house.



All that long blistering afternoon I lay baking on the rooftop.

Thirst was my chief torment. My tongue was like a stick, and to



make it worse I could hear the cool drip of water from the mill-

lade. I watched the course of the little stream as it came in from the



moor, and my fancy followed it to the top of the glen, where it

must issue from an icy fountain fringed with cool ferns and mosses.



I would have given a thousand pounds to plunge my face into that.

I had a fine prospect of the whole ring of moorland. I saw the



car speed away with two occupants, and a man on a hill pony

riding east. I judged they were looking for me, and I wished them



joy of their quest.

But I saw something else more interesting. The house stood



almost on the summit of a swell of moorland which crowned a sort

of plateau, and there was no higher point nearer than the big hills



six miles off. The actualsummit, as I have mentioned, was a

biggish clump of trees - firs mostly, with a few ashes 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 of green turf, for all the world like a

big cricket-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 chosen. For



suppose anyone were watching an aeroplane descending 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 of a big amphitheatre, any

observer from any direction would conclude 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 of the wood. An observer with a telescope on one of the

higher hills might have discovered the truth, but only herds went



there, and herds do not carry spy-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 to think that our enemies had this secret

conning-tower to rake our waterways.



Then I reflected that if that aeroplane came back the chances

were ten to one that I would be discovered. So through the afternoon



I lay and prayed for the coming of darkness, and glad I was

when the sun went down over the big western hills and the twilight



haze crept over the moor. The aeroplane was late. The gloaming

was far advanced when I heard the beat of wings and saw it volplaning



downward to its home in the wood. Lights twinkled for a

bit and there was much coming and going from the house. Then






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