Bulldog Drummond is Sapper's 1920 tale of globalist coup-plotters in the leafy lanes of post-war England. In tonight's episode, having got yesterday's lovey-dovey stuff out of the way, our eponymous hero gradually begins to discern that he is up against more than merely a couple of master criminals:
For a moment or two there was silence in the room. It was broken by the unkempt man on the sofa, who, without warning, exploded unexpectedly...
"I know not what this young man has done: I care less. In Russia such trifles matter not. He has the appearance of a bourgeois, therefore he must die. Did we not kill thousands—aye, tens of thousands of his kidney, before we obtained the great freedom? Are we not going to do the same in this accursed country?" His voice rose to the shrill, strident note of the typical tub-thumper. "What is this wretched man," he continued, waving a hand wildly at Hugh, "that he should interrupt the great work for one brief second? Kill him now—throw him in a corner, and let us proceed."
He sat down again, amidst a further murmur of approval, in which Hugh joined heartily.
"Splendid," he murmured. "A magnificent peroration. Am I right, sir, in assuming that you are what is vulgarly known as a Bolshevist?"
But what's a Bolshevist doing in Godalming?
If you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club you can hear my reading of Part Fourteen of our serialisation of Bulldog Drummond simply by clicking here and logging-in. All previous episodes can be found here - so you can choose whether to follow along each night twenty minutes before you lower your lamp, or save them up for a weekend binge-listen.
We continue to receive very generous comments on this latest Tale for Our Time. Larry Durham, a Mark Steyn Club member from South Carolina, says:
I'm really enjoying Bulldog Drummond. With American bureaucracy crumbling before our very eyes (the ineptitude of the secret service, Joe being led out behind the barn), it's refreshing to spend a few minutes each evening before 'lowering the lamp' immersed in a tale of a smart, competent and fearless hero.
I'm inclined to agree that Bulldog would not last long were he battling his enemies with the help of a posse of current federal agents. On the other hand, his ad hoc gaggle of bibulous Drones Club types on a lark seems to be keeping him in the game.
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