Английский детектив. Джон Бакен. Тридцать девять ступеней / John Buchan. The Thirty-Nine Steps

I am giving you what he told me as well as I could make it out. Away behind all the Governments and the armies there was a big subterranean movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people.

He had come on it by accident (он вышел на него случайно: «по случаю»; accident – несчастный случай, катастрофа; случай, случайность); it fascinated him (оно увлекло его); he went further, and then he got caught (он пошел дальше, а затем попался; to catch). I gathered that most of the people in it were the sort of educated anarchists that make revolutions (я пришел к выводу, что большинство людей в нем = в этом движении были кем-то вроде тех образованных анархистов, которые устраивают: «делают» революции), but that beside them there were financiers who were playing for money (но что кроме них были и финансисты, которые играли ради денег). A clever man can make big profits on a falling market (умный делец: «человек» может сделать большие барыши: «крупные прибыли» на падающем рынке), and it suited the book of both classes to set Europe by the ears (и это совпадало с планами обоих классов – поссорить Европу; to suit smb.’s books – совпадать с чьими-л. планами, подходить кому-л.; by the ears – в ссоре: «за уши»).

 He had come on it by accident; it fascinated him; he went further, and then he got caught. I gathered that most of the people in it were the sort of educated anarchists that make revolutions, but that beside them there were financiers who were playing for money. A clever man can make big profits on a falling market, and it suited the book of both classes to set Europe by the ears.

He told me some queer things that explained a lot that had puzzled me (он рассказал мне о некоторых странных событиях, которые объясняли многое из того, что озадачивало меня) – things that happened in the Balkan War (о событиях, которые произошли во время Балканской войны), how one state suddenly came out on top (о том, как одно государство неожиданно победило: «вышло на вершину»; to come out on top – победить /в состязании, и т. п./), why alliances were made and broken (почему союзы заключались и разрывались; to break), why certain men disappeared (почему исчезли определенные люди), and where the sinews of war came from (и откуда взялись материальные средства, необходимые для ведения войны; sinew – сухожилие, жила; деньги, финансы). The aim of the whole conspiracy was to get Russia and Germany at loggerheads (целью всего заговора было довести до ссоры Россию и Германию; loggerhead – олух, болван; to get to loggerheads – /уст./ дойти до драки).

 He told me some queer things that explained a lot that had puzzled me – things that happened in the Balkan War, how one state suddenly came out on top, why alliances were made and broken, why certain men disappeared, and where the sinews of war came from. The aim of the whole conspiracy was to get Russia and Germany at loggerheads.