Neil satisfied their curiosity by telling them they were poor Irish gentlemen, who made their escape from Culloden, and run to the country for shelter, and that it was an act of charity if they had any kind of eatables to give them some refreshment, for that they had not tasted meat for eight-and-forty hours before, whereupon the honest fellows order’d them to go in; the door of the hut was so low and narrow, that the prince was obliged to creep upon his belly. There they feasted splendidly upon such cheer as there was to be had, which was mostly milk kind; being thus sufficiently refreshed they went off, and as Neil was not thoroughly acquainted in that rod, he brought one of the fellows with him for a guide to whom he gave half a guinea for his pains. When they were within three miles of Roshiness, being at that time five in the afternoon, they laid down in a lock side among high heather, which was all the shelter they had from the rain. There they past the remaining part of the day, the prince shivering with cold all the time. When it was late, they set out for Rosshiness, the night turned so dark that they could not see three yards before them, and the rain was so vehement, with the wind blowing directly in their teeth, that they could scarcely look where to set their foot; besides the rod was so very bad, that the prince, despite of what care Neil and O’Neil could take of him, fell at almost every step in some ditch or mire, where, very often, he lost his shoes, which gave Neil a vast deal of trouble and pains before he could fish them up again, being sometimes obliged to put his hand to the very shoulder in the puddle for them. After having surmounted all these troubles and difficulties, they at last arrived in the long wished for harbour. When they came near the house, Neil left the prince and O’Neil about a cannon-shot off, while he himself went in to see whether the ladies were come; but finding none but the man who took care of the house in bed with his wife, who told him that twenty of the Skay militia who landed there two days before, were in a tent about a quarter of a mile of the house, he returned to the prince with that dismal news, which so enraged him, that he was like to tear his clothes in pieces, not knowing where to run for safety, the enemy being every where. The guide, though he did not understand the language they spoke, yet understood the confusion they were in, told them there was one of Clanranald’s boomen[502] not far off, into whose house they might go with safety till they came to a further resolution. They immediately betook themselves thither, and I leave the reader to judge what a bonny figure they made when they came to examine themselves before light, all bespattered with dirt and mud, after the foregoing night’s walk. There he resolved to return Neil to Nuntown[503] to inform Miss MacDonald that he was arrived, and to hasten her to come without any longer delay.