Did the new arrival speak to anyone at the
station?
Allins would never think they would go indoors, he
argued, for thatwould be to enter a trap. Well, there was always oneor two of them
on the road.
Jaikie looked at this neighbour and recognised
him.
PerhapsBarbon and Dougal have got it settled, and
it would be a pity tospoil their game. My business is tohunt down that type of
humbug and keep it out of Parliament. First of all, that man Allins is
ablackguard.
He arranged for their coming here to see MrCraw,
and no doubt got paid for it. Ihave evidence that certain of its members have the
most sinisterrelations with Moscow.
The man returned Jaikies glance, and there was
recognition in hiseyes.
Jaikie wasfirmly resolved that Allins was a rogue,
and his chief evidence washis own instinct.
Allins had moved so that he now had a fullview of
Mr Craw, and his eyes never left him. The question is, what are you and I going to
do?
Im going to take you straight homeand put you to
bed. His mind turned to the foreigners at the Hydropathic.
The crowd had come tohear Alec Stubber, and was
growing a little restless. He was roused by the injured man getting to his feet. But
from the man on Jaikies rightthey evoked only heartbroken groans. Jaikie looked at
this neighbour and recognised him.
Yet the sight of something had put him and
hiscompanion into a state of profound excitement. Mr Craw raised his head from
toothing his own eloquence. The thirdtime he did this he took his companions arm and
dragged him into arun.
Like the Young Pretender, says
AuntHatty.
The assumption of alliance warmed Jaikies
heart.
That morning he had reached a
conclusion.
I suspect a great deal more, but what Im givingyou
is rock-bottom fact. But Labouris treason, treason to our own cause, and its leaders
will have thereward of traitors. Jaikie, who as a member of the Cambridge A. In
reply Mr Craw relapsed smilingly into the homely idiom of thecountryside. At least,
Ithink he said that, but his English is ill to follow.
And howimportant it is that nobody should recognise
you here.
The prophet was unveiled with avengeance. The more
Jaikie thought about it, the less reason he could find forAllinss return. Allins
would never think they would go indoors, he argued, for thatwould be to enter a
trap.
You might say that the situation at Castle Gay was
out ofhand. There is a pleasant smell of cooking about, and a hum ofcompact and
contented life.
He finished it, passed a hand over hisbrow, and let
the paper fall to the ground.
The question is, what are you and I going to do?