Free The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan Page B

where I was, for I had been very weary and had slept heavily. I saw first
     the pale blue sky through a net of heather, then a big shoulder of hill, and then
     my own boots placed neatly in a blaeberry bush. I raised myself on my arms and looked
     down into the valley, and that one look set me lacing up my boots in mad haste.
    For there were men below, not more than a quarter of a mile off, spaced out on the
     hillside like a fan, and beating the heather. Marmie had not been slow in looking
     for his revenge.
    I crawled out of my shelf into the cover of a boulder, and from it gained a shallow
     trench which slanted up the mountain face. This led me presently into the narrow gully
     of a burn, by way of which I scrambled to the top of the ridge. From there I looked
     back, and saw that I was still undiscovered. My pursuers were patiently quartering
     the hillside and moving upwards.
    Keeping behind the skyline I ran for maybe half a mile, till I judged I was above
     the uppermost end of the glen. Then I showed myself, and was instantly noted by one
     of the flankers, who passed the word to the others. I heard cries coming up from below,
     and saw that the line of search had changed its direction. I pretended to retreat
     over the skyline, but instead went back the way I had come, and in twenty minutes
     was behind the ridge overlooking my sleeping place. From that viewpoint I had the
     satisfaction of seeing the pursuit streaming up the hill at the top of the glen on
     a hopelessly false scent.
    I had before me a choice of routes, and I chose a ridge which made an angle with the
     one I was on, and so would soon put a deep glen between me and my enemies. The exercise
     had warmed my blood, and I was beginning to enjoy myself amazingly. As I went I breakfasted
     on the dusty remnants of the ginger biscuits.
    I knew very little about the country, and I hadn’t a notion what I was going to do.
     I trusted to the strength of my legs, but I was well aware that those behind me would
     be familiar with the lie of the land, and that my ignorance would be a heavy handicap.
     I saw in front of me a sea of hills, rising very high towards the south, but northwards
     breaking down into broad ridges which separated wide and shallow dales. The ridge
     I had chosen seemed to sink after a mile or two to a moor which lay like a pocket
     in the uplands. That seemed as good a direction to take as any other.
    My stratagem had given me a fair start—call it twenty minutes—and I had the width
     of a glen behind me before I saw the first heads of the pursuers. The police had evidently
     called in local talent to their aid, and the men I could see had the appearance of
     herds or gamekeepers. They hallooed at the sight of me, and I waved my hand. Two dived
     into the glen and began to climb my ridge, while the others kept their own side of
     the hill. I felt as if I were taking part in a schoolboy game of hare and hounds.
    But very soon it began to seem less of a game. Those fellows behind were hefty men
     on their native heath. Looking back I saw that only three were following direct, and
     I guessed that the others had fetched a circuit to cut me off. My lack of local knowledge
     might very well be my undoing, and I resolved to get out of this tangle of glens to
     the pocket of moor I had seen from the tops. I must so increase my distance as to
     get clear away from them, and I believed I could do this if I could find the right
     ground for it. If there had been cover I would have tried a bit of stalking, but on
     these bare slopes you could see a fly a mile off. My hope must be in the length of
     my legs and the soundness of my wind, but I needed easier ground for that, for I was
     not bred a mountaineer. How I longed for a good Afrikander pony!
    I put on a great spurt and got off my ridge and down into the moor before any figures
     appeared on the skyline behind me. I crossed a burn, and came out on a highroad which
     made a pass between two