458 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



Donald Macleod was much affected on parting with the 

 Prince, whom he never saw again. 



At this juncture, when things looked at their blackest, 

 a ray of light appeared. Captain Hugh Macdonald of 

 Armadale was in Benbecula in charge of a company of 

 militia. Although serving the Government, he was a 

 Jacobite at heart. When Captain Scott landed in Uist, 

 Hugh Macdonald sent a secret message to the Prince, 

 " from an enemy in appearance yet a sure friend in heart,'* 

 advising him to try to reach Skye, where Lady Margaret 

 Macdonald might be relied upon to protect him. His 

 proposal was that his step-daughter, Flora Macdonald, who 

 was then in South Uist, should go to her mother in Skye, 

 accompanied by the Prince, who was to dress in female 

 clothing and pass himself off as her maid.* Charles was 

 greatly pleased with the suggestion, and was impatient to 

 put it into execution. 



On 2 ist June, the Prince and his companions crossed 

 the mountains and arrived at midnight at a sheiling near 

 Ormaclett, belonging to Angus Macdonald of Milton 

 (about three miles from Milton), where they met Flora 

 Macdonald and proposed the plan to her. At first, she 

 hesitated for obvious reasons, but she finally agreed to risk 

 everything for the sake of the Prince. She lost no time in 

 leaving for Benbecula to consult with her step-father about 

 making the necessary preparations ; while Charles and his 

 companions went to a hill three miles from Coradale, there 

 to await events. 



Flora Macdonald, the heroine whose gallant enterprise 

 and unselfish devotion have won her an abiding place in 

 the gallery of the world's famous women, was a native of 

 South Uist, though she is sometimes claimed for Skye. 

 Her father, Ronald Macdonald of Milton a cadet of the 

 Clanranald family died when she was a year old, leaving, 



* This is not the commonly accepted version, but Neil MacEachain's narra- 

 tive, in which it appears, is worthy of credence ; and it seems to be confirmed 

 by the fact that Hugh Macdonald was subsequently arrested. O'Neil, in his 

 Journal, takes credit for proposing the plan, but in his declaration to the Earl 

 of Albemarle, he naturally enough makes no such claim. 



