Accordingly the whole party, accompanied by their new guide, set out through Glenshiel at a late hour; but they had not proceeded more than half-a-mile, when Glenaladale stopped short, and, clapping his hand upon his side, declared that his purse, containing 40 guineas, which the prince had given him for defraying expenses, was gone. Thinking that he had left it at their last resting place, Glenaladale proposed to go back in quest of it, and desired the prince to remain behind an adjacent hill till he returned; but Charles was averse to the proposal, though the purse contained his whole stock of money. Glenaladale, however, went back along with Borodale’s son, and, on arriving at their last resting place, found the purse, but its contents were gone. Recollecting that a little boy had been at the place with a present of milk from a person whom Glenaladale had visited, he supposed that the boy might have taken away the purse, and he and his companion proceeded to the house of Gilchrist M’Rath, the person alluded to, and found the boy, who, as he had conjectured, had stolen the purse of gold. By means of Gilchrist, the money was restored to Glenaladale, with the exception of a trifle.
The temporary loss of the purse was a very fortunate occurrence for Charles and his friends, as, during Glenaladale’s absence, an officer and two privates passed close by the place where Charles stood, having come by the very road he and his party had intended to proceed. As they went in the direction taken by Glenaladale and his companion, Charles grew very uneasy about his friends, lest they should, on their return, meet with this party; but returning by a different way, they rejoined the prince without interruption. Charles was overjoyed at the return of his friend; and, with reference to his late providential escape, observed, “Glenaladale, my hour, I see, is not come; for I believe I should not be taken though I had a mind to it.” The party now continued their journey. In passing over the field of Glenshiel, the Glengarry man entertained Charles with an account of the action which happened there in 1719. Charles, it is said, could not help admiring the sagacity of his guide, who, though he had not been in the battle, gave as circumstantial and accurate an account of it as if he had been present.[1277]
Travelling all night, Charles and his friends arrived on the side of a hill above Strathchluaine, where, fixing upon a secure place of retreat, they reposed till near three o’clock in the afternoon of the following day, viz., 28th of July. They then continued their journey along the hill-side; but they had not travelled above a mile when they heard the firing of small arms on the hill above them, which they judged to proceed from some of the troops who were engaged in their usual occupation of shooting the people who had fled to the mountains with their cattle and effects. To avoid these bloodhounds the party took a northern route, and ascended a high hill between the Braes of Glenmoriston and Strathglass. They reached the summit of this mountain at a late hour, and sought repose for the night in an open cave, in which they could neither lie nor sleep. They had no fuel, and as they were wet to the skin with a heavy rain which fell during the whole of the day, they passed a most uncomfortable night. Charles felt himself very cold, and he endeavoured to warm himself by smoking a pipe.
CHISHOLM.
Resolving again to go to Pollew, Glenaladale’s brother and the Glengarry man were despatched, about three o’clock in the morning of the 29th, in quest of some trusty persons to conduct the prince thither, and were appointed to meet Charles and the rest of the party on the top of a neighbouring hill. Charles and his friends set off about five o’clock, and, after a walk of two hours, reached the top of the appointed hill, where they met the guide, who stated that he was directed by some proper persons he had found out, to desire Glenaladale to repair to a hill in the Braes of Glenmoriston, called Corambian, where they promised to come at an appointed hour with some victuals. The persons alluded to were a party of seven men, who, having been engaged in the insurrection, had formed themselves into a sort of predatory fraternity; intending, perhaps, to resume their former habits of industry when the persecutions of the government ceased. These had taken up their abode in a romantic cave on the side of Corambian, and seldom removed to any considerable distance from their rocky den, unless compelled by the necessity of providing for their immediate wants.
As directed, Charles and his friends proceeded to Corambian, and when they came near the cave, Glenaladale and the guide went forward, leaving Charles and the other two Macdonalds at a little distance. All the inmates of the den were present except one, and having killed a sheep that day, had just sat down to dinner. Glenaladale said he was glad to see them so well provided, and they invited him to sit down and share with them. He then said he had a friend with him, outside, for whom he must beg the same favour. Being asked by them who the friend was, he answered that it was young Clanranald, his chief. Nobody could be more welcome, they said, than the young chief; and they added, that they were willing to purchase food for him at the point of their swords. Glenaladale then left the cave and brought in Charles, who, being immediately recognised by its residents, had every respect shown him by these men, who fell on their knees before him. It is almost unnecessary to add, that Charles, who had scarcely tasted food for forty-eight hours, made ample amends for his long fast. After dinner, Charles’s entertainers made up a bed for him of ferns and tops of heath, on which he was soon lulled asleep by the gentle murmurs of a purling stream that ran through the grotto close to his bedside.