448 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



cold, hungry, soaked to the skin, and half dead with 

 fatigue ; such was the condition of the Prince when the 

 moor of Arnish, opposite Stornoway, was reached at eleven 

 in the morning. And worse was to follow. 



The guide was sent across to Stornoway to tell Donald 

 Macleod of the arrival of the party, and to bring them 

 some refreshments. Donald accordingly went to Arnish 

 with some provisions, and took the Prince and his at- 

 tendants to the house of Mrs. Mackenzie of Kildun,* a 

 trusty Jacobite, like most of the wives of the Highlanders 

 who were on the Government side. Charles was glad 

 to have the opportunity of drying his shirt, which was 

 wringing-wet. 



When Donald Macleod went back to Stornoway to- 

 resume negotiations for a ship, he found the town in an 

 uproar. The minister of Lochs had published the news 

 that the Prince intended to come to Stornoway. Captain 

 Macaulay had gone about the town telling people about 

 Donald Macleod's mysterious negotiations.f The guide 

 appears to have given a hint of the arrival of Charles 

 at Arnish. The story passed from mouth to mouth, and 

 the details were embellished in the telling. Finally, the 

 accepted version was, that the Prince had actually landed 

 in Lewis with five hundred men, bent on burning Storno- 

 way, carrying off the cattle, and seizing a ship by force. 

 A drum was beat, and two hundred men flew to arms 

 for the defence of the town. At the time of Donald 

 Macleod's arrival in Stornoway, a number of self-elected 

 officers were engaged in holding a Council of War. 

 Donald immediately went to them and demanded what 

 all the pother was about. " Here comes the cause of all 

 our trouble," said the indignant Stornowegians. And 

 they all, with one consent, abused him heartily. Donald, 

 according to his own account, met them with a bold 



* The site of the house at Arnish is still to be seen. 



+ Ned Burke says that Captain Macaulay went off to the Duke of Cum- 

 berland to lodge information. This is not confirmed by any of the other 

 narrators, and was probably only a surmise. 



