Page 42 - the-thirty-nine-steps

of the vowels. A was J, the tenth letter of the alphabet, and
so represented by X in the cypher. E was XXI, and so on.
‘Czechenyi’ gave me the numerals for the principal conso-
nants. I scribbled that scheme on a bit of paper and sat down
to read Scudder’s pages.
In half an hour I was reading with a whitish face and fin-
gers that drummed on the table.
I glanced out of the window and saw a big touring-car
coming up the glen towards the inn. It drew up at the door,
and there was the sound of people alighting. There seemed
to be two of them, men in aquascutums and tweed caps.
Ten minutes later the innkeeper slipped into the room,
his eyes bright with excitement.
‘There’s two chaps below looking for you,’ he whispered.
‘They’re in the dining-room having whiskies-and-sodas.
They asked about you and said they had hoped to meet you
here. Oh! and they described you jolly well, down to your
boots and shirt. I told them you had been here last night and
had gone off on a motor bicycle this morning, and one of the
chaps swore like a navvy.’
I made him tell me what they looked like. One was a
dark-eyed thin fellow with bushy eyebrows, the other was
always smiling and lisped in his talk. Neither was any kind
of foreigner; on this my young friend was positive.
I took a bit of paper and wrote these words in German as
if they were part of a letter -
... ‘Black Stone. Scudder had got on to this, but he could
not act for a fortnight. I doubt if I can do any good now, es-
pecially as Karolides is uncertain about his plans. But if Mr

42 The Thirty-Nine Steps