Life of Flora Macdonald and her adventures with Prince Charles

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jects of terror tacked in an opposite direction, and soon
disappeared in the hazy gloom. In about an hour after,
their own boat, which lay concealed in a neighbouring creek,
rowed up gently with muffled oars to the spot where they
were so anxiously awaiting it. With all possible speed they
embarked on their perilous voyage across the Minch to
Skye, a distance of between thirty-five and forty miles.
The Prince was more anxious to get to Skye than any
quarter on the mainland, as that island was almost entirely
the property of two clans, the Macdonalds and Macleods,
both of whom were ostensibly hostile to the Jacobite cause.
On this account Cumberland had sent but few of his Go-
vernment troops to occupy that island, and to set a watch
upon the movements of strangers. Charles was likewise
well aware that he had a warm and faithful friend in Lady
Margaret, the wife of Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat,
whose kindness His Royal Highness had already experi-
enced.
The voyage was perilous in the extreme, as the whole
channel was scoured by government vessels, eager to arrest
the Prince dead or alive, and also seeing that the chances
for eluding their grasp were exceedingly small. It was
with them, however, now " to do or die," and the attempt
had to be made. At first the breeze was moderate and
favourable, but in a few hours one of those sudden summer
storms, so common in those Isles unexpectedly came on.
The wind blew in terrific gusts, the billows rolled mountains
high, threatening to engulph their small craft. To make
matters worse, one of those thunder-storms with which the
Hebrideans are so familiar set in, and at one time the
party became painfully alarmed as to their safety. Their
boat was an open one, about twenty-four feet keel, but one of
the best that the Long Island could furnish. The crew were