454 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



for the fugitive. When the Prince heard that his would-be 

 captors were Highlanders, he professed indifference. It 

 was the regulars he feared ; no Highlander, he was con- 

 vinced, would harm him. Charles pressed Boisdale and 

 Baleshare to stay the night. Being in such good company 

 which included some officers of Clanranald's regiment 

 they were not slow to accept the invitation ; and Boisdale 

 proceeded to get shaved and don a clean shirt in honour of 

 the occasion. When Neil MacEachain, who had gone to 

 Loch Boisdale for a boat, returned to Coradalc, he found 

 the Prince heaping plaids on his far-from-sober companions, 

 and merrily singing De profundis for the rest of their souls ! 

 An incident like this throws an unpleasant light on the 

 drinking habits, which formed so painful a feature of the 

 subsequent career of Charles Edward. It is undoubted 

 that these habits were first formed during his adventures 

 in the Outer Hebrides. 



A more pleasant side to the picture is the Prince's joyous 

 temperament, occasionally clouded though it was by fits of 

 melancholy. He would dance a Highland fling for a whole 

 hour, whistling the tune to keep him in step. His appetite 

 was always hearty, and he ate what was placed before him 

 without grumbling. He was a keen sportsman and a 

 skilful shot ; and Coradale was provided both with good 

 shooting and fishing. He showed his ignorance of certain 

 phases of the Highland character one day, by ordering 

 Neil MacEachain to swim out to sea for a young whale, 

 which he thought he had shot from the shore. He did not 

 consider, says Neil, that " the office was fitter for dogs than 

 men." But the whale was not hit, and Neil was saved 

 from the ignominy of retrieving. The Prince was in the 

 habit of sitting at the door on fine days, with his face to the 

 sun. It did him good, he said, and he was not afraid of a 

 headache. Was he not thinking of that land of sunshine 

 which now formed the goal of his hopes, and did he not 

 feel that the kiss of the sun was as the embrace of an old 

 friend whom he longed to meet again ? The leaden skies 

 and the tempestuous seas of the Hebrides accorded with 



