So John Mackinnon, having done all he could, parted from the Prince with
the same affectionate sorrow that had marked the farewells of all his
faithful Highlanders. He was caught on his return to Skye, by the cruel
Captain Scott, and five days later was brought back to Lochnanuagh, a
prisoner on board an English man-of-war. Opposite the place where the
ship cast anchor was a fissure in the rock, and halfway up was what
looked like a mere grassy bank. In reality it was a 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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