John MacNab by John Buchan Read Free Book Online

hand.
    â€˜Glenraden,’ he cried. ‘Whew! I’m for it this time.’
    Leithen drew next. His slip read Strathlarrig.
    â€˜Thank God, I’ve got old Claybody,’ said Lamancha. ‘Unless you want him very badly, Ned?’
    Leithen shook his head. ‘I’m content. It would be a bad start to change the draw.’
    â€˜Sit down, Wattie,’ said Archie. ‘Here’s a dram for you. We’ve summoned you to a consultation. I daresay you’ve been wonderin’ what all this fuss about secrecy has meant. I’m going to tell you. You were with Jim Tarras, and you’ve often told me about his poachin’. Well, these three gentlemen want to have a try at the same game. They’re tired of ordinary sport, and want something more excitin’. It wouldn’t do, of course, for them to appear under their real names, so they’ve invented a nom de guerre – that’s a bogus name, you know. They call themselves collectively, as you might say, John Macnab. John Macnab writes from London to three proprietors, same as Jim Tarras used to do, and proposes to take a deer or a salmon on their property within certain dates. There’s copy of the letter, and here are the replies that arrived tonight. Just you read ‘em.’
    Lithgow, without moving a muscle of his face, took the documents. He nodded approvingly over the original letter. He smiled broadly at Colonel Raden’s epistle, puzzled a little at Mr Bandicott’s, and wrinkled his brows over that of the Edinburgh solicitors. Then he stared into the fire, and emitted short grunts which might have equally well been chuckles or groans.
    â€˜Well, what do you think of the chances?’ asked Archie at length.
    â€˜Would the gentlemen be good shots?’ asked Lithgow.
    â€˜Mr Palliser-Yeates, who has drawn Glenraden, is a very good shot,’ Archie replied, ‘and he has stalked on nearly every forest in Scotland. Lord Lamancha – Charles, you’re pretty good, aren’t you?’
    â€˜Fair,’ was the answer. ‘Good on my day.’
    â€˜And Sir Edward Leithen is a considerable artist on the river. Now, Wattie, you understand that they want to win – want to get the stags and the salmon – but it’s absolute sheer naked necessity that, whether they fail or succeed, they mustn’t be caught. John Macnab must remain John Macnab, an unknown blighter from London. You know who Lord Lamancha is, but perhaps you don’t know that Sir Edward Leithen is a great lawyer, and Mr Palliser-Yeates is one of the biggest bankers in the country.’
    â€˜I ken all about the gentlemen,’ said Lithgow gravely. ‘I was readin’ Mr Yeates’s letter in The Times about the debt we was owin’ America, and I mind fine Sir Edward’s speeches in Parliament about the Irish Constitution. I didna altogether agree with him.’
    â€˜Good for you, Wattle. You see, then, how desperately important it is that the thing shouldn’t get out. Mr Tarras didn’t much care if he was caught, but if John Macnab is uncovered there will be a high and holy row. Now you grasp the problem, and you’ve got to pull up your socks and think it out. I don’t want your views to-night, but I should like to have your notion of the chances in a general way. What’s the bettin’? Twenty to one against?’
    â€˜Mair like a thousand,’ said Iithgow grimly. ‘It will be verra, verra deeficult. It will want a deal o’ thinkin’.’ Then he added, ‘Mr Tarras was an awfu’ grand shot. He would kill a runnin’ beast at fower hundred yards – aye, he could make certain of it.’
    â€˜Good Lord, I’m not in that class,’ Palliser-Yeates exclaimed.
    â€˜Aye, and he was more than a grand shot. He could creep up to a sleepin’ beast in the dark and pit a knife in its throat. The sauvages in Africa had learned him