460 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



met two of Clanranald's tenants, who supplied them with 

 milk and other food. MacEachain told the men that the 

 Prince and O'Neil were poor Irish gentlemen who had fled 

 from Culloden, and were making their way to Rossinish ; 

 and one of the men consented to act as their guide. They 

 arrived within three miles of Rossinish on the afternoon of 

 the 24th. The weather was miserable : it was raining 

 heavily, and a strong wind was blowing. The Prince, 

 shivering with cold, lay down in the long heather waiting 

 until nightfall. When darkness set in, they resumed their 

 weary tramp to Rossinish, Charles stumbling at every other 

 step into a bog. He repeatedly lost his shoes in the bogs, 

 and kept MacEachain busy, fishing them up again. When 

 they approached the house where they were to meet Flora 

 Macdonald, MacEachain went ahead of the others to ascer- 

 tain whether she had arrived. He found the house occupied 

 only by the caretaker and his wife, who told him that 

 twenty men of the Skye militia had landed two days before, 

 and were encamped only a quarter of a mile off. The 

 Prince, whose temper had been sorely tried by the incidents 

 of the journey, flew into a passion when he heard the news. 

 Was he never to throw the bloodhounds off his scent ? The 

 guide having mentioned that the house of one of Clan- 

 ranald's " boomen " (chief tenants) was not far off, they 

 went there and were hospitably received. At the break 

 of day, the booman's wife told MacEachain that it was 

 dangerous to stay in the house any longer, as the militia 

 came every morning for a supply of milk. O'Neil was at 

 once sent off to Nunton to inform Miss Macdonald of their 

 arrival. Charles and MacEachain left the house with all 

 speed, and hid behind a rock near the shore, where the 

 Prince had a trying experience of midges, those pests of 

 the Hebrides. A dairy-maid from the farm kept them 

 posted in all that was going on at the house, where they 

 returned after the militia had departed. Charles, who was 

 dripping, hung up his clothes to dry, and sat in his shirt 

 before the fire, " merry and hearty." He was offered a dish 

 -of hot curds, and plunged his hand into it, thinking the 



