Charles remained in this remote place with his companions till the arrival of Lochgarry and Dr. Cameron. They informed him that they had been with Lochiel and Cluny, and that it had been concerted among them that the prince should come to their asylum for some time; and they added, that Cluny would meet his Royal Highness at Auchnacarry, on a certain day, in order to conduct him to Badenoch. Being also informed by them that the passes were not so strictly guarded as formerly, Charles crossed Loch Arkaig, and took up his abode in a fir wood belonging to Lochiel, on the west side of the lake, to wait the arrival of Cluny. Impatient to see two such tried friends as Lochiel and Cluny, Charles would not wait for Cluny’s coming to Auchnacarry, but set out for Badenoch with such guides as he had. Next day Charles arrived at a place called Corinauir, in Badenoch, where he passed the night. Cluny had passed on to Auchnacarry the same day by another way. Lochiel, who had skulked in his own country about two months, had sought an asylum among the Braes of Rannoch, where he was attended by Sir Stewart Thriepland, an Edinburgh physician, for the cure of the wounds he had received in his ancles. On the 20th of June they fell in with Macpherson of Cluny, who conducted them to a more secure retreat on Benalder, a hill of immense circumference, on his own property, on the borders of Rannoch. Lochiel, who had since that time lived on this mountain with his friend Cluny, was now residing in a small miserable hovel on the side of the hill, at a place called Mellenauir, or Millanuir, attended by Macpherson of Breakachie, Allan Cameron, his principal servant, and two servants of Cluny.
Dr. Archibald Cameron, from rare print in the
Burney Collection in British Museum.
On the morning of the 30th of August, Charles, accompanied by Lochgarry, Dr. Cameron and two servants, set out for Mellenauir. They were all armed, and on approaching the hut they were mistaken by Lochiel for a party of militia, who, he supposed, had been sent out in search of him from a camp a few miles off. From the lameness in his feet, Lochiel was not in a condition to attempt an escape, but there seemed to be little danger, as both parties were equal in point of numbers, and the party in the hut had this advantage, that they could fire their first volley without being observed, and as they had a considerable quantity of fire arms, they could discharge another volley or two before the advancing party could reload their pieces. The danger to which Charles and his friends were now exposed was greater than that which Dr. Cameron and Clunes had run, as, on the present occasion, the party in the hut, resolving to receive their supposed enemies with a general discharge of all the firearms, had actually planted and levelled their pieces; but happily for Charles and his friends, they were recognised just as Lochiel and his attendants were about giving their fire. Upon making this fortunate discovery Lochiel left the hut, and, though very lame, went forward to meet the prince. On coming up to Charles, Lochiel was about to kneel, but Charles prevented him, and clapping him on the shoulder, said, “Oh no, my dear Lochiel, we do not know who may be looking from the top of yonder hills, and if they see any such motions they will immediately conclude that I am here.” Charles always considered Lochiel as one of his best friends, and placed the greatest confidence in him; and the generous chief showed, by his unbounded attachment to the prince, that this confidence was not misplaced. The meeting, therefore, of two such friends, after so many perils and escapes, was extremely joyous.
After they had recovered from the first transports of their joy, Lochiel conducted Charles into the hut, where the latter beheld a sight to which his eyes had not been accustomed for many months. Besides abundance of mutton, the hut contained an anchor of whisky, of twenty Scotch pints, some good dried beef sausages, a large well-cured bacon ham, and plenty of butter and cheese. On entering the prince took a hearty dram, and drank to the health of his friends. Some minced collops were then prepared for him with butter in a large saucepan, which Lochiel and Cluny always carried about with them, being the only fire-vessel they had. The pan was set before Charles with a silver spoon. He took this repast with great gusto, and was so delighted with this little change in his circumstances, that he could not help exclaiming, with a cheerful countenance, “Now, gentlemen, I live like a prince.” After dinner he asked Lochiel if he had always fared so well during his retreat. “Yes, Sir,” answered Lochiel; “for near three months past I have been hereabout with my cousin Cluny; he has provided for me so well that I have had plenty of such as you see, and I thank Heaven your Royal Highness has got through so many dangers to take a part.” Finding, on his arrival at Auchnacarry, that Charles had departed with his friends for Badenoch, Cluny had retraced his steps, and he reached Mellenauir two days after Charles’s arrival there. On entering the hut Cluny would have kneeled before Charles, but the prince prevented him, and giving him a kiss, said, “I am sorry, Cluny, you and your regiment were not at Culloden: I did not hear till very lately that you were so near us that day.”
The day after his return to Mellenauir, Cluny, thinking it time to remove to another retreat, conducted the prince and his attendants to a little shieling called Uiskchibra, about two miles farther into Benalder. This hut was very bad and extremely smoky; but Charles accommodated himself, as he had always done, to circumstances. After passing two nights in this miserable abode, he was conducted to a very extraordinary and romantic habitation, called the Cage, which Cluny had fitted up for Charles’s reception. From the description given by Cluny of this remarkable retreat, it will be seen how well adapted it was for the purpose of concealment.
“It was,” says Donald Macpherson, “situated in the face of a very rough, high, and rocky mountain, called Letternilichk, still a part of Benalder, full of great stones and crevices, and some scattered wood interspersed. The habitation called the Cage, in the face of that mountain, was within a small thick bush of wood. There were first some rows of trees laid down, in order to level a floor for the habitation; and as the place was steep, this raised the lower side to an equal height with the other; and these trees, in the way of joists or planks, were levelled with earth and gravel. There were betwixt the trees, growing naturally on their own roots, some stakes fixed in the earth, which, with the trees, were interwoven with ropes, made of heath and birch twigs, up to the top of the Cage, it being of a round or rather oval shape; and the whole thatched and covered over with fog. This whole fabric hung, as it were, by a large tree, which reclined from the one end all along the roof to the other, and which gave it the name of the Cage; and by chance there happened to be two stones at a small distance from one another, in the side next the precipice, resembling the pillars of a chimney, where the fire was placed. The smoke had its vent out here, all along the face of the rock, which was so much of the same colour, that one could discover no difference in the clearest day. The Cage was no larger than to contain six or seven persons; four of whom were frequently employed playing at cards, one idle looking out, one baking, and another firing bread and cooking.”[1281]
Charles’s deliverance was now nearer at hand than he or his friends probably expected. Several small vessels had arrived on the west coast, from time to time, to carry him off to France; but the persons in charge of these not being able to find him had returned home. Charles knew this, and now that he was able to keep up a communication with his friends, he took care to provide against a similar recurrence. He was at a considerable distance from the coast, but matters were so concerted that, if a French vessel appeared, he could easily get the intelligence. There were some of his partizans skulking near the west coast, who, though they did not know where he himself was, had instructions to convey the news to others who were concealed in the interior, who would again communicate it to persons in the knowledge of the prince’s place of retreat. For some time Colonel Warren, of Dillon’s regiment, had been exerting himself to induce the French government to fit out an expedition to rescue Charles from his toils. He at last succeeded in procuring two vessels of war, L’Heureux and La Princesse de Conti, with which he departed from St. Malo about the end of August. In the event of his bringing the prince safe away, the Chevalier de St. George had promised to make him a Knight Baronet, a dignity which he afterwards conferred upon him.[1282]