‘Er - horses and dogs are very interesting, aren’t they?’ he said. The man took no notice. Fatty debated whether to raise his voice or not. He decided not.
‘I said, horses and dogs are very interesting, aren’t they?’ he repeated.
‘Depends,’ said the man, and went on reading. That wasn’t much help in a conversation, Fatty thought gloomily. The others were jolly lucky to have got such easy people to tackle. But still - of all the passengers in the bus, this man looked by far the most likely to be the letter-writer - sour-faced, scowling, cruel-mouthed! Fatty racked his brains and tried again.
‘Er - could you tell me the time?’ he said, rather feebly. There was no reply. This was getting boring! Fatty couldn’t help feeling annoyed too. There was no need to be so rude, he thought!
‘Could you tell me the time?’ he repeated.
‘I could, but I’m not going to, seeing that you’ve got a wrist-watch yourself,’ said the man. Fatty could have kicked himself.
‘You’re not being much of a detective this morning!’ he told himself. ‘Buck up, Frederick Algernon Trotteville, and look sharp about it!’
‘Oh - look at that aeroplane!’ said Fatty, seeing a plane swoop down rather low. ‘Do you know what it is, sir?’
‘Flying Fortress,’ said the man, without even looking up. As the aeroplane had only two engines and not four, this was quite wrong and Fatty knew it. He looked at his fellow passenger in despair. How could he ever get anything out of him?
‘I’m going to Sheepsale market,’ he said. ‘Are you, sir?’