small hut roofed
with sods, so contrived that no one unless he were in the secret would
have suspected it of being anything but a grassy slope. Here the Prince
had spent the preceding night, but as soon as the ship entered the loch
he betook himself to the hills. He was accompanied by old Borodale and
his son John--the young man who had been supposed to have died at
Culloden. A cousin of Borodale's, Macdonald of Glenaladale, had always
been a special friend of the Prince's. He joined him now in the wilds,
resolved to share all his worst dangers, though he had to leave his wife
and 'five weak pretty children' unprotected and living in a bothy, the
only home the English soldiers had left them. The first plan these brave
men concerted together was to carry the Prince into Lochiel's country,
where young Clanranald had promised to provide him a hiding-place. On
their way, however, they heard that a body of soldiers were approaching
from Loch Arkaig, which completely blocked their way on that side. That
same night old Borodale learnt that General Campbell with several ships
was in Loch Nevis, Captain Scott was still in Lochnanuagh, and parties
from these ships were searching every foot of ground in their
neighbourhoods. At the same time troops had been landed at the head of
Loch Hourn, and others simultaneously at the head of Loch Shiel. Between
these two points the distance as the crow flies must be some twenty or
five-and-twenty miles, but the wild mountainous nature of the country
makes the actual distance far greater. In spite of all difficulties the
Government troops in a few days had drawn a complete cordon from one
point to the other. This cordon consisted of single sentinels planted
within sight of each other who permitted no one to pass unchallenged. At
night large fires were lighted, and every quarter of an hour patrolling
parties passed from one to the other to see that all the sentinels were
on the alert.

Charles's case was almost desperate. For several days he and his
companions lived like hunted animals on the mountain-tops. They were
frequently within sight of some camp of the enemy; more than once they
had to go precipitately down one side of a hill because the soldiers
were coming up the other. They changed their quarters at night,
sometimes marching long miles merely to reach some mountain which having
been searched the day before was less likely to be visited again. In the
daytime the Prince could snatch