Stone of Destiny by Ian Hamilton Read Free Book Online

certain that she was thoroughly reliable.
    The advantages of having Kay with me came crowding in on me. A lovely woman is never suspect, and a brave woman could fire the imagination of the world. Kay could never hamper our plan; she could only assist it. Were we not planning something that would be meat and drink to the Sunday papers? Let us give it to them then, from the hors d’oeuvre to the brandy.
    No chivalrous thoughts held me back even for a moment. While I was certain that no English court would punish Kay as rigorously as they would punish me, I knew that the results for her would not be pleasant. I knew I was being unfair in exposing her to the cold and the minor hardship and the prison which would inevitable follow. I was certain, however, that Kay would catch the imagination of Scotland as her countrywoman Flora MacDonald had done in the Islands two centuries previously. Even if the operation failed, and the English imprisoned Kay, there would be such an explosion in Scotland as would rock Westminster to its venerable foundations. As for heras a person, she had to take the same risks as I was willing to take.
    I had made my choice. I decided to put it to Kay and let her make hers.
    I put down my drink and spoke to her for the first time in 10 minutes. ‘What are you doing at Christmas, Kay?’
    ‘I’m going home,’ she said.
    ‘I’m going to London to bring back the Stone of Destiny.’
    She laughed. ‘I thought you had a hard head,’ she said. ‘You’ve only had one drink.’
    ‘I mean it,’ I said, and I did mean it. I looked at her and saw the smile fade from her face. Then she laughed again.
    ‘So did Wendy Wood, and Compton MacKenzie and John MacCormick and Bertie Gray! Every Nationalist worth his salt has planned to get the Stone. Why do you think it’s never been done before?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ I said, and I still don’t know. ‘I can’t understand why it’s never been done, but I’ve been to London and I’m certain that we can do it.’ I could see she was interested. ‘Would you like to come?’ I asked.
    ‘No,’ she said, and meant yes. ‘What can I do?’
    ‘You can drive,’ I told her and outlined the plan.
    ‘If we fail,’ she said, ‘we’ll get shot out of the movement.’
    I assured her that would be the least of our worries.
    I was delighted, for I knew she would come. I had lost one comrade and gained another, and as we danced that night I was for the first time certain of ultimate success. It was not a feeling springing out of any rational weighing of the odds against us. With Kay with us, as we were to find out, the odds were considerably shortened. In practical things women have practical minds, and if their feet are too often fixed to the ground, they are all the better placed for guiding men who have their heads in the clouds. On occasion when I have been inflated with impracticable ends and searching for possible means to meet them, I have hadmy nonsense, to say nothing of my vanity, pricked by the cold logic of a woman.
    Yet the one real reservation I had about Kay was the fact that she was a woman. I had never any doubt of her will, that it would drive her on to breaking point as indeed it did. Where that breaking point would be I did not know. When a little later I met Gavin and Alan I had to make the same assessment. Were they physically fit for the job? Was Kay physically fit for the job? Some of us took exercise. Some of us, particularly girls, did not. It was a long way to London. It would be an exhausting trip with sleep only in snatches. I had had experience of the trip in the preceding years, travelling by motorbike from my RAF postings in the south of England. Although many roads in Scotland were still unmetalled the road to London was tarred all the way. Yet it was narrow with barely room for two lorries to pass when they met. The road connected every town and village on the way. That was its main purpose. It wasn’t designed for through