Among other subjects the Prince and Captain MacLeod in their wanderings happen'd to talk of the above remarkable incident when the Prince was pleased to inform him that the [Sidenote: _fol._ 261.] Laird of MacIntosh himself (in Lord Loudon's command) was the kind friend that had sent off the express from Inverness to give notice of the danger. The Prince said he had a very good opinion of that gentleman.
After the hurry of the alarm was over, the Prince ordered all the men to be got together and to march directly for Inverness; and when they were approaching that town he drew them up in order of battle, expecting, as was given out, that Lord Loudon was to march out of the town to fight. For a considerable way they marched in order of battle, and when they came near Inverness they saw Lord Loudon and his men making all the haste they could out of it, betaking themselves to ships and boats to carry them off. The Prince and his army entred the town without opposition or violence of any kind.[124]
_N.B._--Upon Thursday, August 13th, 1747, Captain Malcolm MacLeod and James Macdonald, Joiner, Dined With My Lady Bruce in the Citadel of Leith. After Dinner They Were So Kind As to Retire to My Room, Where They Staid Till Between Six and Seven at Night. the Captain Was But Poorly Provided For in Money Matters, and Therefore a Contribution Was Set on Foot For Him in and About Edinburgh. I Was So Happy[125] As to Make Among My Acquaintances Six Guineas and a Crown, Which I Delivered Into His Own Hand. I Then Told Him the [Sidenote: _fol._ 262.] Freedom I Had Taken in Writing Down from My Memory the Conversation He Had Honoured Me With, Friday Last, in Presence of Stewart Carmichael and James Macdonald, But That I Still Wanted to Have an Additional Favour of Him, Which Was, That He Would Be So Good As to Allow Me to Read My _prima Cura_ in His Hearing, in Order to Get His Observations and Amendments Upon It. He Frankly Granted My Request, and Said He Was Glad to Embrace the Opportunity of So Much Exactness, Which Had Never Been Used With Him in Any One of the Many Conversations He Had Formerly Given. He Was Pleased to Declare His Being Much Satisfied With What I Had Written and Said, He Would Now Tell Me Some Things He Had Not Mentioned Before, Which Accordingly I Writ in His Own Words, Always Reading Over Every Sentence to Him For The Greater Certainty of the Facts Being Exactly and Circumstantially Narrated. I Have Been Carefull to Insert These Particulars in Their Proper Places in the Above Transcript. There Was One Thing I Had Some Difficulty Rightly to Adjust With Captain Macleod, Which Was the Day Of the Month When He Parted With the Prince After Seeing Him in the Boat With Old Mackinnon. When I Asked Him About This, He Said It Was Upon July 4th.[126] I Told Him That Would Not Answer at All With the Days Formerly Mentioned by Him, and That It Behoved to Be July 5th. He Was Still Positive That [Sidenote: _fol_. 263.] It Was the 4th, 'For,' Said He, 'I Remember Nothing Better Than That I Set It Down Upon a Piece of Paper Lest I Should Forget It.' [The Difficulty Was Still Like to Remain Unresolved, He Being Equally Positive Both As to The Days Formerly Mentioned by Him, and the Particular Day Upon Which He Parted With the Prince, Till It Luckily Came Into My Mind to Ask Him How Many Days He Reckoned in June? He Answered, Thirty-one, Which Mistake Served to Clear Up This Point.[127]] Captain Macleod Said He Expected His Brother-in-law, John Mackinnon, Soon Down from London, And Then Suggested to James Macdonald That If John Should Happen to Come by the Way of Edinburgh, He Should Be at Pains to Procure a Meeting Betwixt the Said Mr. Mackinnon and Me, and That (Considering The Exactness I Observed) James Macdonald Should Lay Himself Out to Get Me a Meeting With Donald Macleod, Miss Flora Macdonald, and Any Others If They Came in His Reach That Could Be Useful in Making a Discovery of Facts and Men. to Which Mr. Macdonald Answered, He Would Do All That Lay in His Power.