About two or three days after O'Neil parted from the Prince, a French cutter, having 120 men on board, appeared and sailed towards the Isle of South Uist, intending to carry off the Prince.[246] O'Sullivan went immediately on board, while O'Neil made haste to find out the Prince before he might have left the island. But finding that the Prince had left the island about two days before, immediately he returned to the place where he had left the cutter. But unhappy for him, he found that the timorous Sullivan, having a fair wind, and not having [Sidenote: _fol._ 529.] courage to stay till O'Neil's return, being resolved to take care of Number One, obliged the captain to set sail directly, lest he should be taken and should lose his precious life. O'Neil returned in the compass of three hours after Sullivan had set sail, and was taken prisoner soon after and brought into England, after having been prisoner for some time in the Castle of Edinburgh[247], to which place he had been brought from a ship of war; for he had been in a state of confinement at sea for some time. An English officer, having intelligence of the above cutter, immediately dispatched two wherries after her with thirty men in each, but neither of them could come up with her. [246] See f. 191. [247] See f. 189. At eight o'clock, June 28th, Saturday, 1746, the Prince, Miss Flora MacDonald, Neil MacKechan, etc., set sail in a very clear evening from Benbecula to the Isle of Sky.[248] It is worth [Sidenote: _fol._ 530.] observing here that Benbecula is commonly reckoned a part of South Uist, they being divided from one another by the sea only at high water, which then makes a short ferry betwixt the two; but at low water people walk over upon the sand from the one to the other. [248] See f. 1518. They had not rowed from the shore above a league till the sea became rough, and at last tempestuous, and to entertain the company the Prince sung several songs and seemed to be in good spirits. In the passage Miss MacDonald fell asleep, and then the Prince carefully guarded her, lest in the darkness any of the men should chance to step upon her. She awaked in a surprize with some little bustle in the boat, and wondered what was the matter, etc.[249] [249] See f. 195. [Sidenote: 29 June]