l.' Donald used to declare that in all his
life 'he never knew anyone better at a shift than the Prince when he
happened to be at a pinch.' Like many another unfortunate man, whether
prince or peasant, Charles found unfailing comfort in tobacco. He seems
to have smoked nothing more splendid than clay pipes, and 'as in his
wanderings these behoved to break, he used to take quills, and putting
one into the other and all into the end of the "cutty," this served to
make it long enough, and the tobacco to smoke cool.'

Donald records another characteristic little trait of the Prince at this
time. On quitting the island he insisted on leaving money on the rocks
to pay for the fish they had consumed.[6]

In the meantime the situation was growing more and more dangerous.
Rumours had got abroad that the Prince was in the Long Island, and the
search was being actively pursued. Two English men-of-war were stationed
near the island, and sloops and gunboats ran up every bay and sound,
while bodies of militia carried on the search by land. These, from their
intimate knowledge of the country, would have been the more formidable
enemy of the two if many of their officers had not had a secret sympathy
with the Jacobite cause and very lukewarm loyalty to the Government.

For several days the Prince's boat had been so constantly pursued that
it was impossible for the crew to land. They ran short of food, and were
reduced to eating oatmeal mixed with salt water, a nauseous mixture
called in Gaelic, Drammach. At last they ran into a lonely bay in
Benbecula, where they were free from pursuit. It is characteristic of
the Prince's irrepressible boyishness that he and the boatmen here went
lobster-hunting with great enjoyment and success.

Without help at this juncture the little party must either have starved
or fallen into the hands of their enemies. Charles therefore sent a
message to the old chief of Clanranald--the largest proprietor in South
Uist--begging him to come and see him.

Nine months before, when the Prince had landed on that island on his way
from France, the old gentleman had refused to see him, pleading old age
and infirmity. His brother, Macdonald of Boisdale, had seen the Prince
and had vehemently urged him to give up so hopeless a design and to
return to France; and, when he found that all persuasion was in vain,
had roundly refused to promise him any assistance from his brother's
clan. And though young Clanranald had,