伦敦的新苏格兰场

 

 

Episode 1

Edward Coke used to be an army officer, but he is in prison now. Every day is exactly the same for him.

It is winter now and all the other men get up at six, when it is still cold and dark. They have breakfast at six thirty. Work begins at seven thirty. Some of the men work in the prison factory, where they make mailbags, but Coke often works in the fields outside.

The men have lunch at twelve. Lunch lasts an hour and then the men go back to work again. Dinner is at six. Coke usually goes to the prison library after dinner and reads until 9.30. The lights go out at ten. The day is long, hard, and boring and every man has a lot of time to think. They usually think about why they are there. Coke does. He always thinks about two men.

One of the men is called Eric Masters. He used to be an army officer, just like Coke. Coke knows that Masters has a lot of money now. The second man's name is Hugo. That is all Coke knows about him. Masters knows where and who Hugo is, but Coke doesn't.

Every night Coke lies in bed and thinks about Eric Masters and Hugo. There is another thing he thinks about, too. Escaping. He wants to escape and find Masters, and then the other man. Coke is in prison for something he did not do.

 

Episode 2

It is six o'clock on a very cold winter evening. All over England people are sitting down in their living-rooms and are watching the news on television or are listening to it on the radio. There is one very important piece of news this evening. It is this:

"In the West of England this evening, hundreds of policemen are looking for a man who escaped from Princeville Prison early this morning. The man's name is Edward Coke. He is 30 years old, six feet tall, and has black hair and blue eyes. He is wearing a dark blue prison uniform. The police do not think he can stay free very long. It is only a few degrees above zero and it is snowing."

The radio is on in an expensive pub in Soho, in the centre of London. Most of the people there are not very interested in the news programme, but one man is. His name is Eric Masters. He is about 45 and is wearing very expensive clothes. He is looking very afraid of something. There is another man standing next to him at the bar. Masters is asking him a question.

"Did they say the man's name was Coke?"

"Yes, that's right, Coke... Edward Coke. Why? Do you know him?"

"Pardon?"

"Do you know him?"

"No... no.... I don't know him... I ... I just wanted to know the man's name, that's all."

In another part of London, a young detective is standing in the office of his chief at Scotland Yard. The young detective's name is Richard Baxter.

"You knew Coke, didn't you, Baxter?'

"Yes, sir. I arrested him four years ago."

Baxter's chief is nodding his head. "Yes, I know that, Baxter. That's why I'm giving you this order, now. Find Coke again! You must find him immediately!"

 

Episode 3

It is 6.30 in the evening now, and the wind is still blowing. It is getting colder. About ten miles away from Princeville Prison a man is hiding in a field. The wind is cutting through his thin prison uniform like a knife.

A dog is barking somewhere in the distance. Is it a police dog perhaps? The man in the field does not know. There is only one idea in his mind at the moment: he must find food and some warm clothes, but where?

Two hundred miles away in London, Baxter's train is standing at platform 9 in Paddington Station. Baxter is sitting in a comfortable compartment. There is another man opposite him. Baxter doesn't know the man but he can see he wants to talk. The man is holding a newspaper in his hands.

"I see someone escaped from Princeville Prison this morning."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes... Would you like to read about it? It's all here in the paper."

"No, thank you."

The train is leaving the station now. Baxter is looking out of the window. He can see a thousand bright lights in the windows of pubs, cafes, houses and flats. Everywhere people are sitting down to warm meals and hot cups of tea. The world looks warm and comfortable. The man opposite Baxter is still talking.

"The paper says the man was a spy... he gave important military secrets away. I hope the police catch him!"

"Yes, so do I."

      

Episode 4

NOTE: From this point onwards, there is a synopsis at the beginning of every unit. The synopsis tells in a few words what happened in the last episode.

The story is also told in the past tense from now on.

Synopsis: A young detective, Richard Baxter, arrested Coke four years ago. Coke escaped from prison because he wanted to find two men, Rick Masters and someone called "Hugo". That was all Coke knew about the second man. He knew Masters when they were officers in the army. Baxter, the detective, left London on the same day Coke escaped. His job was to catch Coke again.

Baxter got on the train at 5 o'clock. An hour later, at 6, he was asleep in the warm train compartment. Coke was still in his hiding-place in a field, 100 miles away. The winter evening got darker and colder. The wind cut through Coke's thin uniform like a knife. Coke was hungry and tired, and his arms and legs were so cold that he could hardly feel them. He knew he had to find food, warm clothing, and a warm place somewhere. "I have to make a move! I can't just stay in this field and die of the cold!" he thought.

Coke got up and began to walk. "Where am I? Which direction am I walking in? Am I going back towards the prison?" he asked himself. A few minutes later, the moon came out and Coke could see better. He stopped and looked around. Suddenly he saw a small light not far away. "What can it be? It can't be a car. It isn't moving! It must be a house!" he said to himself and began to walk towards it. The light got larger. It was a house! He could see the form of the roof in the darkness.

Ten minutes later, he was outside the house. He stopped and listened. "Strange!" he thought. "I can't hear anything, not even a radio or a television, but there must be someone in there! There's a light on." Just at that moment, a thought struck him.

"This is probably the only house around for miles! The police know I'm probably around here somewhere; and if they're anywhere, they're in that house, waiting for me!"

Coke didn't move. The wind became colder. His feet and hands felt like ice in the snow. "I have to take the chance! I have to! This is the only place I can find warm clothes and food!" he thought.

 

Episode 5

Synopsis: Coke escaped from prison and hid in a field. It was very cold and he knew that he had to find warm clothes and food somewhere. He saw a house in the country, isolated and far away from the nearest town. He stood outside the house before going in. He could not understand why there was no noise coming from it, not even the sound of a radio or television.

Coke listened for several seconds but he could not hear anything at all. And yet there was smoke coming from the chimney and there was a light on in the front room! "Why is it so quiet? Is it a trap? Are the police waiting for me in there?" he asked himself. He went to the front door and pushed it. To his surprise it was open! He went in very quietly. In the front room there was a fire burning in the fireplace. The room was clean, small and very warm. There was very little furniture in it---only a couch and a table in front of the fire and two old-fashioned chairs. There were also some photographs on the shelf above the fire. They were yellow and old. There were also a few of the same young man and also a woman in old-fashioned wedding-clothes.

Suddenly Coke froze. There was someone else in the room. He knew it. He could feel it! He turned around quickly and, at the same time, put his hand in his pocket. There was a small knife there. He saw an old woman. She had a covered dish in her hands and there was a delicious smell of meat and vegetables coming from it. She didn't look afraid. She didn't look even surprised.

"I'm sorry," she said, and put the dish down on the table. Coke could hardly believe his ears. Here he was, a stranger in her house and yet she said she was sorry!

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I didn't hear you. Did you knock? I'm deaf, you see."

 She pointed to her ear, shook her head and said "deaf" a second time. "People often come to the door and knock, but I don't hear them. I'm glad you came in."

Coke stared at her for a second and then finally found his voice, "I ... I'm sorry I just stepped in."

He looked down at his clothes. His prison uniform was so dirty that it was impossible to tell what kind of uniform it was. Then he suddenly had an idea.

"I'm a mechanic from a garage in town. I came to repair a lorry somewhere out here but the road was icy. I had an accident. I ... I fell off my motorbike."

He had to say this several times before she finally understood him. When she did, she gave him some hot water and soap and afterwards some food. The only thing he needed now was a change of clothes!

      

Episode 6

Synopsis: After Coke escaped, he hid in a field all day. Then, when it got dark, he went into a small house in the country. There was an old deaf lady in the house. She gave him food. The young detective who arrested Coke four years ago, Baxter, left London by train. Scotland Yard's orders were: "Find Coke immediately!"

It was a cold and miserable night. Only a few miles from the house Coke was in, two policemen in a small village station could hear the wind outside. One of them was a sergeant. The other was much younger.

"I wonder how Mrs Bentley is?" the sergeant asked.

"Mrs Bentley? Oh, you mean that old lady whose husband died a few years ago?"

"That's right. She's deaf, you know, so she never listens to the radio or watches television. In fact, she doesn't even read the papers."

"Oh?" the young policeman said. He wondered why the sergeant wanted to tell him all this. Then he found out.

"Why don't you go out to her place and see if she's all right?"

"Who? Me? On a night like this?"

"It's not far. Besides, you've got your bike, haven't you?"

Baxter got off the train at a small station. There was a detective waiting for him on the platform. He shook Baxter's hand. "My name's Halls, Tom Halls. Scotland Yard phoned us and told us to meet you here. There's a car waiting."

Baxter wasted very little time on social formalities.

"Coke escaped more than 24 hours ago. I want to catch him before another 24 hours are up."

Halls looked at Baxter for a few seconds before he answered.

"A lot of us wonder why Scotland Yard is so interested in this fellow Coke. He isn't the first one to escape. Another man did only about six months ago, but Scotland Yard didn't send anyone to help us then." Baxter was already half-way to the car before he said anything.

"Coke isn't an ordinary prisoner. He's very special. Let's get going!"

The young policeman was angry. He was on the road now. The wind was cold and blew snow into his face. "That stupid sergeant!" he thought. "We must be one the last stations in England that still uses bikes, and he sends me out on a night like this!"

He had to get off the bike and push it up a hill. It was the last hill between the station and the old lady's house. When he got to the top of it he could see the house down below, at the bottom of the hill. Just as he looked down at it, he saw a light go on in one of the rooms upstairs. "Stupid! That's what it is, sending me out on a night like this!" the policeman said again. Then he got on his bike and began to go down the hill very fast, towards the house.

 

Episode 7

Synopsis: Coke found food in a small house in the country. Baxter arrived at a small station. Another detective met him there and asked Baxter why Scotland Yard was so interested in Coke. A sergeant in a police station not far from the house Coke was in sent a young policeman to the house to tell the old lady in it about Coke.

"You know, your clothes are in a terrible state," the old lady said after the meal. You ruined them when you had the accident!"

"That's all right. They're just my work-clothes," Coke answered.

"My husband was just about your size. A little heavier perhaps. All his clothes are upstairs. They're no good to him. He died two years ago." She pointed up to the room above them.

"Why don't you see if any of his clothes fit you? You can bring them back tomorrow."

"Nobody can be this lucky!" Coke thought to himself. He went upstairs and turned the light on. It was clear that the old lady was almost in another world. She trusted everybody. He found a heavy jacket, a woolen shirt and some trousers hanging in the room.

"What do you know about Coke?" Baxter asked Halls. They were in the car now. "Very little, I'm afraid. In fact, I don't think I know anything about him at all. Wasn't he the fellow who was in that spy case about four years ago?"

"Yes, that's right. Coke always said it wasn't him ... that it was someone else."

"That's what they all say. But what's so special about him?"

"Coke was in Army Intelligence. He knew important secrets. We could never understand why he sold them. There wasn't a real motive. Some said he did it for money. We couldn't prove it, but if he was a spy, he still knows much. We could never find out who he sold the secrets to. That's why we have to catch him before he makes contact with any of his old friends!"

Coke put the clothes on as quickly as he could. They were old and shabby, but at least they were warm. When he came downstairs, the old lady was still in front of the fire. She smiled when she looked at him. "You know, you look just like my husband in those clothes, when he was much younger, of course."

"I can't thank you enough. It's very kind of you to do all this for me." The old lady didn't seem to hear him.

"Just like my husband," she said again. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

      

Episode 8

Synopsis: After Coke escaped from prison, he found a small house several miles away from the nearest village. The old lady in the house gave him food and clothes. She was deaf. A policeman came out to her house to tell her to look out for Coke.

The deaf old lady didn't hear the knock, but Coke did. His heart began to pound wildly. Whoever it was obviously knew there was someone inside because there was light on and smoke coming from the chimney. He had to decide what to do, and quickly.

"There's someone at the door," he said loudly, but the old lady did not understand.

"There's someone at the door," he said again, this time even more loudly than before. She went out of the room and Coke quickly stepped back into the shadows of the front room.

The old lady opened the front door. Coke could see her quite clearly, but nothing else. He listened carefully.

"Hello, Mrs Bentley. I'm from the village police station. The sergeant sent me. I've got something to tell you."

Then Coke saw the policeman very clearly. Coke looked around quickly. There was a poker lying in the fireplace. He almost went to get it and then stopped.

"No!" he thought. "That's too dangerous. They already think I'm a spy. Whatever I have to do I can do just as well with my fists." He stepped back and waited. The old lady and the policeman came through the door into the sitting-room. Coke was still behind the door, so the policeman could not see him.

"Good evening officer. Can I help you?" Coke said very loudly and clearly. The policeman turned around the looked at Coke. He was very surprised. Then Coke hit him as hard as he could in the stomach and he fell to the floor heavily. The old lady screamed. The policeman tried to get up, but fell back weakly. Coke ran out of the room.

The phone rang about five minutes later at the local police headquarters. Halls answered it.

"What? Coke? Where? When?"

Baxter stood up as soon as he heard Coke's name. He quickly put his hat and coat on. Halls listened carefully to the voice on the other end and quickly made a few notes.

Then he put the phone down and turned to Baxter.

"Well, we know where Coke is now. A policeman almost caught him only five minutes ago."

"What do you mean, 'he almost caught him'? Did he catch him or didn't he?"

"No, he got away. He stole the policeman's bike."

 

Episode 9

Synopsis: Coke found food and clothes in a cottage several miles away from the nearest village. However, a policeman came to tell the old lady in the cottage to watch out for Coke. Coke knocked the policeman down and stole his bike.

Baxter got into the car first. Halls was right behind him. "You drive. You know the area better than I do," Baxter said. They raced out of the town and into the dark countryside.

"It's ridiculous," Halls said. "Does he really think he's going to get away from us on a bike?"

"Coke isn't a fool," Baxter answered. "He probably doesn't realize we already know what happened in the old lady's house."

"You mean he doesn't know that even village policemen have small two-way radios these days?"

"That's right. He probably thinks it's going to take that policeman at least half an hour to get to the nearest phone. He thinks he can get pretty far in that time."

Ten minutes later, about three miles from the old lady's house, Baxter suddenly saw someone on the dark road ahead.

"Look! There!" he shouted. "There's someone on a bike! And look! He's going to get off!"

Halls saw the man quite clearly, but only for a second. As soon as the man saw they were in a police car, he dropped his bike and ran into the trees at the side of the road.

"That's Coke!" Baxter shouted. "He isn't going to get away this time!" Baxter jumped out of the car even before Halls stopped it, and ran after Coke. Halls jumped our, too. He didn't even switch off the headlights.

All Coke's training as a soldier helped him now. Baxter was just behind him when Coke suddenly turned. Baxter tried to grab him but almost lost his balance. Then Coke hit him on the chin as hard as he could. Baxter fell to the ground heavily. At that moment, Halls jumped on Coke from behind but Coke threw him over his back and against a tree, and then ran back towards the ground again. There was a terrible pain in his ribs. Coke saw the police car very clearly. The headlights were still on, and one of the doors was open. Coke jumped in.

It took Baxter several seconds to realize where he was. At first, all he could feel was a terrible pain in his jaw. Then he heard the sound of a car engine starting. He looked up and saw Halls pointing to it. Suddenly Baxter realized everything. Halls tried to run after the car but it was too late. Coke was gone and so was their car!

      

Episode 10

Synopsis: When Coke saw Halls in a police car, he jumped off his bike and ran into the trees at the side of the road. Baxter and Halls ran after him. Coke managed to get away from both of them and to steal their car.

Coke drove for about twenty minutes. He felt nervous in the police car but he knew it was his only chance.

"I wonder how that policeman managed to contact police-headquarters so quickly?" He asked himself. Then he remembered a newspaper article about the new pocket radios all policemen had. They were small things which they put in their pockets.

"Of course! That's it!" he thought. Then he wondered if detectives like Halls and Baxter also had them. He knew they probably did not, because they already had radios in their cars. Suddenly, however, something on the road ahead interrupted his thoughts. Two police cars were there, side by side, blocking the road. Nothing could get by them!

The two policemen at the roadblock were bored. It was a lonely spot between two hills and there was very little traffic.

"Could you give me a light, Tom?" one of them said. It was his tenth cigarette that night. Just then, they both looked up and saw a car coming towards them.

"It's a police car," the other one said. "Perhaps they're bringing us some hot coffee, or something to eat."

They both watched the car as it came closer. It was a long, straight road and the car was still a good distance away.

"Isn't it going to stop?"

"It doesn't look like it."

"Shall we stop it? Our orders are to stop every car."

Just then, they heard the two-tone sound of the horn. It was obvious that whoever was in the car was in a great hurry.

The two policemen hesitated for a second. Then one of them turned to the other, "Would you move the car out of the way, Bob, or shall I?

"But our orders were to ..."

"Look! That's a police car, can't you see? You don't think Coke's going to come through here in a police car, do you?"

The other policeman got into the car and moved it back a few inches; the gap was just wide enough for another car to get through now.

"Aren't you going to move back some more?" the other shouted.

Before he could do so. Coke shot through the narrow gap and raced down the road in the direction of London.

 

Episode 11

Synopsis: Halls and Baxter tried to catch Coke when they saw him on a road in the countryside late at night. Coke, however, got away from them and stole their car. He also got through a police roadblock.