462 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



supper when one of Clanranald's herds came to say that 

 General Campbell was landing men, three miles away. 

 This news broke up the supper party, and they hurriedly 

 crossed Loch Uskavagh, reaching the other side at five 

 in the morning, when they finished their interrupted meal 

 at their leisure. Two or three hours later, a servant arrived 

 with a message from General Campbell to Lady Clan- 

 ranald, intimating that he and some of his men were at 

 her house, and desiring her to be there before noon, or her 

 property would suffer. She hastened to obey the summons, 

 and on arriving home was subjected to a strict cross- 

 examination. She was asked where she had been. " To 

 visit a sick child," was her reply. It is scarcely necessary 

 to say that General Campbell failed to extract a syllable of 

 information from this staunch Jacobite.* Soon afterwards, 

 she and her husband were both made prisoners, andj 

 strenuous efforts were made by the Government to obtain 

 local evidence against them. They were, however, with 

 Boisdale, Clanranald's brother, discharged in June, 1747, 

 and returned from London to the Long Island, with a 

 stronger hold on the affections of their people than would 

 ever have been the case had they rendered only passive 

 help to the bonnie young Prince. Macneill of Barra was 

 also taken prisoner, and Donald Macleod, after his arrest, 

 was to have been one of the witnesses against him. But 

 from what we know of Macleod, we may be sure that the 

 old pilot was not the man to give his friends away ; and 

 the laird of Barra seems to have escaped scot-free. The 

 precise charge against Macneill is not stated. He was a 

 Jacobite and was thus liable to arrest on suspicion ; but 

 there is nothing to show that he rendered active help to 

 the Prince during his adventures on the Long Island. 



The final preparations for the voyage to Skye were 

 quickly made by the party at Rossinish. The Prince was 

 to adopt the role of an Irish maid, Betty Burke by name, 

 whom Hugh Macdonald recommended to his wife as an 



* One account states that Captain Ferguson was in charge of the Campbells. 



