With Apologies to H.M.

The Stone of Destiny, for the second time in 655 years, was whisked away from its native heath last week and carried back into English captivity. A handful of diehard Scots stood by in sad farewell to the 485-lb. yellow sandstone symbol of Scottish nationalism. Only a scattering of newsmen attempted pursuit as British policemen carried the ancient relic in an official car from ruined Arbroath Abbey, south across the border to London's Westminster, from which it had been lifted last Christmas (TIME, Jan. 8).

The four Glasgow University students who took the Stone from Westminster Abbey had been tracked down by Scotland Yard. They had "voluntarily" turned their loot over to the authorities with an unsigned note to King George apologizing for any indignity they might have caused him. No arrests were made and none was likely.

A few of the 40,000 tartaned, tam-o'-shantered Scots who had descended on London for the annual England v. Scotland football match at Wembley gathered outside the abbey, but made no effort to snatch the prize. To a crowd of 600 in Trafalgar Square, indefatigable Nationalist Wendy Wood, leader of the Scottish Patriots' Association, cried, "The Stone belongs to Scotland; we shall get it back." But most Britons, English and Scots alike, seemed to feel that the joke had gone on quite long enough.

"It's a good thing," said Scottish M.P. Sir William Darling of the Stone's return. "I've said all along that those who removed the Stone had taken an altogether too pessimistic view of the shortage of building materials in Scotland."

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