A Daughter of Raasay

armed Highlanders and a handful of lowland recruits the Prince cut his way through the heart of England, defeated two armies and repulsed a third, each of them larger than his own and f

ted these wild Highlanders we had unseated the Hanoverians out of doubt, but their loyalty was not strong enoug

tement the capital city was awaiting news of our approach, how the household treasures of the Guelphs were all packed, how there was a run on the Bank of England, how even the Duke of Newcastle, prime minister of Great Britain, locked himself in his chamber all day denying admitta

on us from different sides, each with an army that outnumbered ours, and a third army was waiting for us before London. 'Tis just possible that we might have taken the desperate chance and won, as the Prince was so eager that we should do, but it was to be considered that as a defeated army in a hostile country, had the fortune of war declared against us, we woul

ewarts of Appin, the Macphersons, Colonel Stuart's regiment, and Donald Roy's Macdonalds. By great good chance I arrived with a message to Lord George from the Prince in time to take part in this brilliant little affair. With his usual wisdom Lord George had posted his men in the enclosures and park of Lowther Hall, the Macdonalds on the right of the highway, Colonel Stuart in close proximity, and the Macphersons and the Appin regiment to the left of the road. I dismounted, tied my horse, and joined the Red Macdonald's company where they were lying in the shrubbery. We lay there a devil of a while, Donald Roy smoking as contented as you please, I in a stew of impatience and excitement; presently we could hear firing over to the left where Cluny Macpherson and Stewart of Ard

ccording to the Highland custom, many of the troops, seeing no need of their immediate presence, had retired temporarily to their homes. Several of the clan regiments were absent on forays and other military expeditions. The Chevalier O'Sullivan, who had charge of the commissariat department, had from gross negligence managed to let the army get into a state bordering on starvation, and that though there was a quantity of meal in Inverness sufficient for a fortnight's consumption. The man had allowed the army to march from the town without p

at the Mackenzies under Lord Cromarty, the second battalion of the Frasers under the Master of Lovat, the Macphersons under Cluny, the Macgregors under Glengyle, Mackinnon's followers, and the Glengary Macdonald's under Barisdale were all on the march to join us and would arrive in the course of a day or two. That with these reinforcements, and in the hill country, so eminently suited

Athole men in forming the line of battle, and stubbornly refused to reform his line. The Duke of Perth, who commanded on the left wing, endeavoured to placate the clan by vowing that they would that day make a right of the left and promising to change his name to Macdonald afte

r fight on the left," he told me in bitter despair and grief. "Wae's me! The red death grips us. Old MacEuan who hass the second sig

r superstitions all Highlanders are alike. As well I might have reasoned with a wooden po

be led forward in the charge. Presently through the lifting smoke we saw the devoted Mackintoshes rushing forward against the cannon. After them came the Maclaughlans and the Macleans to their left, and a moment later the whole Highland line was in motion with the exception of the Macdonalds, who hewed the turf with their swords in a despairing rage but would neither fight nor fly. Their chief, brave Keppoch, stung to

forward headlong. They reached the first line of the enemy. 'Twas claymore against bayonet. Another minute, and the Highlanders had trampled down the regulars and were pushing on in impetuous gallantry. The thin tartan line clambering up the opposite side of the ravine grew thinner as the grape-shot carried havoc to their ranks. Cobham's and Kerr

d be done to save the day. All was irretrievably lost, though the Prince galloped over the field attempting a rally. The retre

d the troopers, bearing in mind their disgrace at Gladsmuir and Falkirk, rushed to and fro over the field massacring the wounded. I could ask any fair-minded judge to set up against this barbarity the gentle consideration and tenderness of Prince Charles and his wild Highlanders in their hours of victory. We never slew

y-two unfortunate victims dragged from their hiding in the heather to hillocks and shot down by volleys of musketry. Into a small sheep hut on the moor some of our wounded had dragged themselves. The dragoons secured the door and fired the hut. One instance of singular atrocity is vouched for. Nineteen wounded Highland officers, too badly injured to join the retreat, secreted themselves in a small plant

of his command to check the pursuit until the Prince should have escaped. The man ha

last trying to stem the tide, with Sheridan and O

y passed through the tow

of whins one might look to find a wounded clansman hiding from the riders of Cumberland. By good providence I came on Captain Macdonald just as three hussars were about to make an end of him. He had his back to a great stone, and was waiting grimly for them to shoot him down. Supposing me to be an officer of their party the troopers desisted at my remonstrance and left him to me. Donald Roy was wounded in the foot, but he managed to mount behind me. We got as far

d, Sir Robert Volney, and a boy officer of Wolfe's regiment. Young Fraser raised himself on

e do you belo

," was the und

urning to Maj

your pisto

id that

and scoundrel who dares l

Sir, my commission is at the disposal of your Royal Highness, but my

d burst out with, "B

ng for you to require nor for me to p

n. Charles Fraser dragged himself to his feet by a great effort and looked at th

began Wolfe, abou

ou to be silent,"

t the Fraser, whose steady eyes n

chie in English, and next moment fell

e stern and drawn. Wolfe dismounted from his horse and reve

e as valiantly and as loyally as this young g

ran the gamut of all tints from pink to deepest purple, gulped out an apoplectic Dutch oath, and dug the rowels de

ok at the Macdonald, nor he at me. We mounted in silence

deer across the heather hills, and now--" He broke into Gaeli

and overhauled us rapidly. Presently we saw that he was a red-coated officer, and behind a huge rock we waited to pistol him as he came up. The man leaped from his horse and came straight toward us. I laid a hand on Captain Roy's arm, for I had reco

ught that you and your friend could use another horse.

stared long at him. A wistful

d your escape it is because prisoners have no rights this

ody Sassenach dogs." Then he stopped, the bitterness fading from his voice, and added: "But I am forgetting myself. God, sir, the sights I have seen

verness beginning to glimmer as we passed. A score of times we had to dismount on account of the roughness of the ground to lead our horses along the steep incline of the mountainsides, and each time Donald set his teeth and dragged his shattered ankle through bracken and over boulder by sheer dour pluck. Hunger gnawed at our vitals, fo

beasts, to the mistakes that had ruined our already lost cause. The past and the present were bitter as we could bear; thank Heaven, the black shadow of the future hung as yet but dimly on our souls. If we had had the second sight and could have known what was to follow-the countr

of the Prince, Cluny, Lord Murray, Creagh, and a score of others, wondering if they had been taken, and fell at last to troubled sleep, from which ever and anon I started to

nald Roy cocked tailor fashion on the heath arranging most temptingly on a rock scone sandwiches of braxy mutton and a flask of usq

Montagu, for I'm a wee thingie hungry my nainsell (myself). 'Deed, to mak plain, I'm toom (e

world did you get

named Farquhar Dhu lives there. He and Donald Roy are far ben (intimate), and when I came

he mountain and back

for a bit exercise to test it. And gin I were you I wadna sit cocking on that stane speirin

one to spend himself for his friends and make nothing of it. This was one of his many shining qualities that d

ur reverse had turned about and were falling back to Badenoch. At Trotternich we found a temporary refuge at the home of a surgeon who

asionally we slept in sheilings (sheep-huts), but usually in caves or under the open sky. Were we in great luck, venison and usquebaugh fell to our portion, but more often our diet was brose (boiling water poured over oatmeal) washed down by a draught from the mountain burn. Now we would be lurking on the mainland, now skulking on one of the islands or crossing rough firths in crazy boats that leaked like a sie