A tall, bearded peasant, clothed in rags tied about him with bits of string, came up to Bertram and spoke to him in English, with an American accent.
“Say, mister, can you change a hundred thousand roubles into German marks?”
Bertram laughed, and was astounded.
“A hundred thousand roubles! I’m not a millionaire.”
“No need to be,” said Cherry. “It’s worth about six shillings in English money.”
He took some dirty bits of paper from the bearded peasant, and gave him some German notes.
“There you are, Nunky. How do you come to speak the American lingo?”
“I worked in Detroit,” said the man. “Before the world went wrong.”
“Where do you come from?”
“Ufa.”