, where he had spent the previous
night. At daybreak, however, he was roused by a fearful disturbance in
the courtyard below, occasioned by the quarrels of some stray soldiers.
For a moment he thought death was certain, but the soldiers had no
suspicion of his presence in the house, and as soon as they had settled
their affairs took themselves off elsewhere.

Mr. Rollo proved a broken reed, and the Chevalier found, after a few
minutes' talk with his brother-in-law, that if he wished to reach the
Continent he must not count on a passage in the merchant ships to help
him. He therefore, after consultation with his friends, came to the
conclusion that his best plan was to make for the Lowlands, and to this
end he set out for Edinburgh as soon as possible. Of course this scheme
was beset with difficulties and dangers of every kind. The counties
through which he would be forced to pass were filled with Calvinists,
inspired with deadly hatred of the Jacobite party. To escape their hands
was almost certainly to fall into those of the soldiery, and over and
above this, government passports were necessary for those who desired to
cross the Firths of Forth and Tay.

But, nothing daunted, Johnstone went his way. He was passed in disguise
from one house to another, well-fed at the lowest possible prices (he
tells us of the landlady of a small inn who charged him threepence for
'an excellent young fowl' and his bed), till at last he found himself in
the region of Cortachy, the country of the Ogilvies, who one and all
were on the side of the Prince. At Cortachy he was quite secure, as long
as no English soldiery came by, and even if they did, the mountains were
full of hiding places, and there was no risk of treachery at home. Two
officers who had served in the French army, Brown and Gordon by name,
had sought refuge here before him, and lay concealed in the house of a
peasant known as Samuel. They implored him not to run the risk of
proceeding south till affairs had quieted down a little, and he agreed
to remain at Samuel's cottage till it seemed less dangerous to travel
south.

It would be interesting to know what was 'the gratification beyond his
hopes' which Johnstone gave Samuel when they parted company some time
after. It ought to have been something very handsome considering the
risks which the peasant had run in his behalf, and also the fact that
for several weeks Johnstone and his two friends had shared the scanty
fare of