Page:Buchan - The Thirty-Nine Steps (Grosset Dunlap, 1915).djvu/187

 "You've got to come along of me, young man," said the policeman. "I saw you strike that gentleman crool 'ard. You began it, too, for he wasn't doing nothing. I seen you. Best go quietly or I'll have to fix you up."

Exasperation and an overwhelming sense that at no cost must I delay gave me the strength of a bull elephant. I fairly wrenched the constable off his feet, floored the man who was gripping my collar, and set off at my best pace down Duke Street. I heard a whistle being blown, and the rush of men behind me.

I have a very fair turn of speed and that night I had wings. In a jiffy I was in Pall Mall and had turned down towards St. James' Park. I dodged the policeman at the Palace Gates, dived through a press of carriages at the entrance to the Mall, and was making for the bridge before my pursuers had crossed the roadway. In the open ways of the park I put on a spurt. Happily there were few people about and no one tried to stop me. I was staking all on getting to Queen Anne's Gate.