The thirty- nine steps Chapter 1.The man who died The first chapter is about a man, Richard Hanna, who is living in London and his neighbour, a secret agent called Scudder. The secret agent tells him that it’s going to be a war and the Greek Prime Minister is the only man that can stop it but if he comes to London, the terrorists will kill him so the secret agent has to protect him. Then, he can’t be at his home because the terrorists know where he lives. So, he pretends his murder and stays at Hanna’s home but a few days later when Hanna arrives at home, he sees Scudder lying on his back. He has been murdered. Chapter 2.The milkman starts his travels When Hanna saw the body of his neighbour he didn’t know what do. He was sitting thinking what to do, until he thought that the best thing to do was remain hidden in Scotland until just before the 15th of June. So he went to the train station to see what time he had to leave the next day. When he returned
home he took all his money and at that moment he saw that the
cupboards were open and the little black book of his neighbour wasn’t there so, he supposed the murderer had taken it. The next day he had breakfast and after it, he got his pipe and filled it from his tobacco jar, when suddenly he touched something hard: it was Scudder’s little black book. He waited for the milkman and when he arrived, Hanna took his coat and hat, he told him that it was a game and gave some money to him. He wanted to run away. Chapter 3.The hotel- owner When Hanna was on the train to Galloway, he got out Scudder’s black book. There were some words that appeared time and time again, and he thought that it was a code but he couldn’t work it out. When he arrived at the train station he saw a man digging in the train station garden, and then, he continued his way to the moor. He arrived at a farmer’s
house, where he slept, and the next morning he went to a different train station to go to the east, towards Dumfries. On the train there was a old farmer with his dog, he was asleep. The next station was where he had been one day ago, and there, two men were asking something to the man that was digging, he supposed that they were asking something about him, because the man pointed at the moor. He had planned to leave the train, so, when there was nobody on the way he dropped into the grass, but the dog tried to bite him and it pulled the farmer out, then, the man hid himself and when the train continued he began to walk into the moor. Suddenly he saw a plane that was looking for him and decided to change his way, into the forest and towards the east. He arrived at a bridge house, that it was a hotel and the owner was a young man, who seemed to be a good person, Hanna told him his story and this good man promised him not to say anything at all. When he was in his room the young man went to tell him that there were two men asking about him. Hanna wrote a note and told the young man to give it to the two men. They went out very quickly and then Hanna said the young man to go to the police station and told them about the two men, that they had something to do with the London murder. The next morning the police and the men were there. Hanna took the men’s car and drove away. Chapter 4.The political candidate Hanna was thinking about Scudder’s notes. On the 15th June, Karolides was going to be murdered but there was something else. The words “thirty nine-steps” appeared several times in the book. Besides, The British and the French government were going to prepare for war together and there was a plan to get hold of secret information. Scudder talked about “the black stone” Hanna wanted to write a letter to the British Prime Minister but nobody would believe him. He came into a village and suddenly a policeman tried to stop him. He drove away into a forest as fast as he could when a car appeared and then, his car went through the hedge of a road. It began to fall. And he was caught by the branch of a tree where he stayed until a young man found him and offered
him a bed and food. He also asked him to talk about Australia about an election meeting. In the end, Hanna told him the truth and the young man wrote a friend of his, Sir Walter Bullivant, who worked in the Foreign Office. The next morning he took a bike and went to see the young man’s friend. Chapter 5.The adventure of the roadman Hanna was walking by the road when he saw some men walking towards him, so he decided to run southwards. He was walking when he saw a man who was working on the road and complaining because he didn’t feel well. Hanna told the man he was going to do his job and he would see the road inspector when he came to supervise his work. The roadman agreed to do it because the previous night he had been at his daughter’s wedding and he was very tired. After some time, his enemies asked him if he had seen somebody walking or cycling, he wasn’t nervous and he said that he hadn’t seen anybody, and they went away. After this, a car stopped a few metres from him. The driver was a man that he disliked so much, Marmaduke Jopley , just interested in people with money, he ran up to him and said that if he didn’t lend his car for two or three hours, there was going to be another murder, so the man gave him his car and he walked away. Hanna thought that he was not a murderer, but he had developed a habit of stealing expensive cars. Chapter 6. The bald writer Hanna was trying to hide from the police when he arrived at a farm where an old man lived. He helped him but Hanna had walked into the hands of his enemies. He told them a silly story about himself but the old man didn’t believe him and locked him up in a small and dark room. Over there, the man found some explosives and he used them to escape. He became unconscious for some seconds, after he went to an old tower near the building. He had to climb and he was safe there. At nine o’clock, he climbed down and he went to a small stream near the farm. He drank litres of cold water and then he walked without stopping till he was ten kilometers from the house.
Chapter 7. The fisherman He diced to go back to Mr Turnbull’s house for his clothes and Scudder’s notebook. The sooner he met Sir Walter Bullivant, the better. Hanna was really ill and the weather was bad, so he couldn’t go back to Mr. Turnbull’s house quickly. When he arrived there, Mr. Turnbull put him to bed and he looked after him for ten days. After, he gave him his money and his clothes. The next day he took some trains and finally he arrived at London. When he was walking singing, he saw a big man, he seemed kind and intelligent. He was Sir Walter, Scudder’s friend. He knew that Scudder was dead and Hanna hadn’t been the murderer because Scudder had sent him a letter. After that, Hanna gave him Scudder’s book and he explained to him the code, but Sir Walter thought that Scudder was wrong, Karolides was alive and he didn’t believe that story about stealing the Navy’s war plans. At this moment the servant said to him that he had a phone call and he returned with a white face because Karolides had been shot dead at seven o’clock that evening. Chapter 8. The coming of the black stone. The next day Sir Walter was better but he was nervous because a Frenchman, Royer, was coming to London one day earlier. He will be given important papers and then, he would go to Portsmouth where a Navy ship would take him to France. Hanna went back to Sir Walter’s. He was in a meeting with important people. Then, the meeting ended and Lord Alloa came out. Hanna realized that it wasn’t him but “the black stone”. He had telephoned Lord Alloa’s house and he had been ill in bed all day. Chapter 9. The thirty- nine steps They were very angry. The spy knew a lot of information and now they had to change their plans and find the criminals. They didn’t know where to look for them but Hanna remembered something on Scudder’s book, and surprisingly, he found something that was connected with the place where their enemies were going to leave England.
They had to find a place where there was path with thirty nine-steps down to a beach. It had to be somewhere on the east coast it was somewhere where high tides was at 10.17. In the end, they found the place and they prepared a plan for the next day. Chapter 10. Meetings by the sea Hanna was in Bradgate with MacGillivray and they found the house of the thirty nine steps that was on the cliff. MacGillivray went to the house pretending to sell sewing machines to find out how many people were over there. Hanna wasn’t feeling very confident, he didn’t know if the men were the real criminals or just nice people . He was watching them and finally decided to come into the house. He said to the three men that they were going to be arrested, but they laughed because they could see that Hanna wasn’t sure that they were the murderers, then, they asked him to play cards, he accepted, and when they were playing, he saw something that he had seen before, the old man was the same of the farm, and the other men had killed Scudder. They tried to escape but the police arrested them. Only one man arrived at the yacht, but some policemen were there, so they arrested him as well. The Black stone hadn’t won. Seven weeks after, war started and Hanna joined the army.