THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS
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 any one called Hannay in my born days. I'd sooner have the police than I you with your Hannays and your monkey-faced pistol tricks. No, guv'nor, I don't mean that. I'm much obliged to you for the grub. I'll thank you to let me go now the coast's clear."
It was obvious that he was badly puzzled. You see he had never seen me, and my appearance must have altered considerably from my photographs—if he had got one of them. I was pretty smart and well dressed in London, and now I was a regular tramp.
"I do not propose to let you go. If you are what you say you are, you will soon have a chance of clearing yourself. If you are what I believe you are, I do not think you will see light much longer."
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