by R. W. Hughes
The rest of the men, obeying George’s instructions, took positions under cover and primed their muskets. Having come this far and so near to their freedom they were determined not to give that up without a fight. The patrol consisted of ten dragoons and one officer who passed at a trot, and were soon out of sight at a bend in the track. While they were still under cover in the coppice, George decided he would take the opportunity to give the ponies a rest and a feed of bran, and organise a hot drink for the group. But first he sent a scout to make sure the patrol had continued on its journey and a scout in the opposite direction so they would not be surprised by any other travellers on the track.
‘That was a close shave, Douglas,’ said George as his friend joined him by the camp fire.
‘Yes! But did you recognise the officer!’ George shook his head giving his companion a quizzical look. ‘That was the commanding officer of the garrison at Thurso. Major Thornton.’
It was then that George recalled that the major had told Fiona at their meeting he intended knowing in detail the area and clans who were under his jurisdiction, and with him being out on patrol he would not yet be aware of the breakout from the prison ship, most worrying though he was coming from the direction of Tongue House.
Keeping these thoughts to himself, he quickly organised his group and they left the coppice, the refreshed animals maintained a steady trot with several of the younger men again jogging alongside holding on to the saddle straps and keeping pace with the ponies. It was his intention to reach Tongue after dusk, so the re-leased prisoners could slip into the barn as quietly as possible and hopefully unobserved. What he wanted to avoid was any gossip circulating in the community. It would not be until they were well out to sea before the escaped prisoners would appear on the deck of the transport ship.
As they approached the outskirts of the township, he called a halt and addressed the group that had gathered around him.
‘I am deeply in your debt, gentlemen; you not only risked your own freedom but the security and wellbeing of your families. But through your resolve and determination, we succeeded to free several of our clan from an injustice, and also at the same time to release members of our united family from inhuman servitude as slaves, which would otherwise have been forced upon them. But now you must return to your farms and gather your families and your belongings. The ships leave as soon as we can load all of you and your possessions for our new life in the Americas and the town of New Inverness in the colony of Georgia. And I must emphasise that nothing must be disclosed to your neighbours of your actions or your involvement in what has taken place during the last few days. Loose unguarded talk or bragging of these events would have disastrous repercussions by the occupying English army on the remaining families of the clan MacKay and their dependants.’
Most of the men he had travelled with and assisted with the prisoners escape now prepared to return to their own farms and crofts, and they still had to organise their own families and return to board the ship as quickly as circumstances would allow.
As the group dispersed George turned to his friend Douglas. ‘I leave you in charge of these men Douglas, as much as they may wish to slip away and contact their families, if they value their freedom, they will stay hidden in the barn until it is safe to smuggle them onto the ship. Our biggest enemy at this moment is idle gossip; there are too many informers willing to do the clan MacKay harm, for a few English pieces of silver.’
‘You have my promise, George, none of these men will leave the barn until you give the word, having tasted the conditions of the English prisons, I can assure you they will not want to return to that hell hole.’
Giving his friend a hug he turned and leading his pony made his way towards the dark entrance to the courtyard of Tongue House.
Twenty-Four
As he entered the courtyard, the noise of the pony’s hooves on the granite cobbles attracted the attention of Sithig who appeared with a lantern and made his way across the courtyard towards George.
‘Did the day go well?’ the old man said as he took the reins of the animal from him.
‘The day could not have gone better,’ George replied with a smile.
‘Aye, that’s good, but yon couple of in-laws may wipe the smile from ye face,’ he said indicating a carriage in the deep shadows of the courtyard, then walked off towards the stables leading the pony behind him, chuckling to himself at his own little joke.
George decided to go through the kitchen rather than enter the property via the main entrance. He did not want to risk bumping into Fiona’s parents until he had the chance to speak to her. Leaving his boots in the kitchen, he made his way quietly to his and Fiona’s quarters at the far end of the house. Entering their rooms, he saw Fiona asleep on an easy chair in front of a log fire. Going quickly over to her side he kissed her gently on her cheek, causing her to waken with a start, seeing who it was she pulled him closer and gave him a lingering kiss on his lips which to him at that moment said more than any amount of words.
‘Did you succeed? Did you manage to release Douglas and his herdsman, Alick Bain?’
‘Yes! Everything went to plan, plus a bonus. There were several prisoners who were associated with our clan they had fought at Culloden for the Prince, they had then surrendered to the English authorities rather than place any pressure on their families for assistance, and face the wrath of the English forces. They were destined to work as slaves in the cane fields of Jamaica, if they ever survived that journey. I offered them an option of fend for themselves on the moors or sign to join the Highland Regiment of Foot to protect Georgia.’
‘And no doubt you painted a glowing picture of this new land to encourage these experienced fighting young men to join your regiment,’ Fiona said with a smile.
‘You are too clever by far, woman!’ he replied with a laugh. ‘Yes, they will be all joining us on our journey. Unfortunately, we could not find or release the two MacKay brothers.
Fiona reached upwards and pulled George closer to her in a big hug. ‘Do not be to down at heart, my husband. You have achieved more than most men would be capable of.’
He stayed for several moments longer enjoying her warm embrace before parting. He had decided not to mention the episode with Nicholas Duncan. He would leave that for some future date when he was aware of the outcome.
‘Sithig tells me you are entertaining visitors,’ he said with a smile kneeling down beside her.
‘Yes! Ailie contacted them. She felt it would be wrong for them not to have the opportunity to see me before we left for Georgia.’
‘And!’ he said enquiringly.
‘They have tried to persuade me not to travel such a great distance, especially in my condition,’ she said running her fingers through his hair.
‘And your reply to them?’ he said.
‘My reply was, “I love my husband and I will travel with him wherever he wishes to go, his thoughts and decisions are not of a selfish nature but for the long- term good of me, his wife, and our future family.” With regards to my condition, the women traveling with me between them have more experience of childbirth than most of the doctors at present practising in the city of Edinburgh. I must admit they were not pleased with my reply, and I did not want to hurt them because I understand they are only concerned for mine and the baby’s welfare. But it is my decision, and I told them it was freely taken without me being unduly pressured in any way.
‘I now think they have accepted this fact, and I know they do not want me to leave with any ill feelings hanging over us like a dark cloud.’
George was quiet for a good while. He knew as she did that she may never see her parents again, and he was immensely proud of the women he was married to. She reminded him so much of his mother, frail of build but a spirit and determination that would not be broken.
‘We also had a visit from my cousin, Major Thornton, and a platoon of hi
s troopers. He was aware of your arrangement with General Oglethorpe and asked where you were, so I told him you were away selling surplus stock. He seemed to accept the explanation. He was courteous and polite but not very warm. The troopers watered and fed their horses, and they then left.’
‘Yes! We nearly bumped into them on the road, it was most fortunate we had a scout riding in front of us so we were pre-warned and managed to find cover before they passed us.’
‘Things are going well for us, George; I pray our luck holds until we are out to sea.’
‘Well, quoting my uncle, luck has little to do with it. A person’s actions guide his destiny and he makes his own luck.’
‘Well that may well be, but we see my parents at dinner, they will leave at dawn, so I suggest, George, considering you smell like you have been sleeping with the horses, the same as you did the last time you were in their company, to stop them thinking this is your usual attire, I suggest you have a good wash and a change of clothes.’
‘You are quite right in what you say, Fiona. I need to change the poor impression your parents must have of your husband who seems to delight in sleeping with the livestock,’ he said laughing at her concern. ‘If they intend traveling back to Inverness, I will arrange an escort to accompany them, if they travelled all that way to Tongue without one, they were most fortunate not to be waylaid and robbed. There are still gangs of Jacobites roaming the countryside rustling cattle, and travellers especially those unescorted are easy pickings.
‘I will find Ailie and tell her the good news about Douglas.’
‘Tell Ailie she must not mention to anyone that those men are in our barn,’ he said as he leant over and gave her another kiss before leaving the room to do as she had requested.
It was a rather strange atmosphere at dinner; Fiona’s parents were rather glum, while Ailie, Fiona, Riavach and George were in high spirits and felt guilty that they could not share their news with them. George had only had time to tell them the basic story and was on pins to give them more details, especially the part about Nicholas Duncan and his companions. And it was only when Doctor and Mrs Russell, because of their early start the following morning, bid them all a good night and retired, that he could then give them all the full story.
When George and Fiona went down to the stables the following morning, Riavach had already arranged for four mounted men to escort his in-laws on their journey. George could not help but feel sympathy for his mother-in-law who could not hold back her tears as she hugged her only daughter, and he felt for both Fiona and his sister who was also sobbing freely.
As the carriage left the courtyard with two of the mounted escort at the front and two taking up the rear, both Fiona and Ailie still emotional made their way back into Tongue House leaving George and his brother alone in the courtyard.
‘The men who joined me on my visit to Thurso will be arriving with their families and their possessions in the next few days to be loaded on to the ships, but tonight during darkness, the men in the barn will board the vessel, and it will leave before low tide the dawn of the following day and anchor in deep water off Rabbit Island just outside the bay.’
‘What if any families are delayed, and do not arrive before you sail?’ replied Riavach.
‘The ship that will be carrying the live stock will stand off in deep water until all the families have arrived and their livestock are in the pens ready for loading. The passenger ship will return and load all the families, and when that is completed, it will then continue to a deep water anchorage while the other ship takes its place to load the livestock.
‘When that embarkation is complete, both ships will sail for the Americas. I cannot risk Major Thornton returning to search the ship and find his prisoners are amongst the passengers, but while we anchor in the bay behind Rabbit Island, we will be out of sight if you are visited by the English dragoons. You can inform them we have already sailed.’
Riavach nodded he could see the logic of his brothers thinking, the English Major on his visit a few days’ previous had already seen the two ships and the Highland families’ possessions being loaded aboard, so what better way for wanted men to flee the country than on these vessels?
‘I will send a scout down the track to the edge of the moor immediately. He will give us some notice of any future visit by English patrols,’ said Riavach, grasping the seriousness of the situation, and the fact that all their successes could be undone at the last hurdle.
It was several days later and George was watching the sailors fasten the ship to the dock, where the last of the families, with their possessions stacked on their farm carts, had been waiting patiently for the ship to arrive on the high tide, that one of Douglas’s cousins gained his attention and pointed to a lone horseman making his way down the track to the quay. He watched as the horseman continued to approach towards the group standing on the quay. It was obvious to him that the guard posted on watch at the edge of the moor was on instructions to give warning of a group of men and not a single rider, so he would not be considered by him to be a threat. He made a mental note that instruction would have to be altered. The man stopped his horse at the end of the quay and stiffly dismounted from his mount, and started with the aid of a walking stick to make his way towards George. He was still several yards away before he recognised who it was, and startled the men around him by his loud shout.
‘Captain Mclintosh! Captain John Mohr Mclintosh, I do not believe it; my eyes must be deceiving me.’
He stepped forward and greeted the man fondly.
‘Aye, George, I’m glad to have arrived before you sailed. I rode through the night in order to do so. I have papers of clearance from General Oglethorpe and he requests that I travel with you.’
The fact that the captain had the clearance papers was a relief for him; it gave him a safe passage for the two ships and any assistance he may require in any waters patrolled by the English navy, to have sailed without the documents which he had considered and may well have had to do, could have been indeed chancing fate.
‘Come John, up to the house, if you have been traveling all night you have missed your breakfast. I am sure you are in need of a hot meal and a warm fire to thaw you out and the kitchen of Tongue House is just the place.’
It was only after the captain had finished his second bowl of hot porridge sweetened with honey and had settled down in front of the large peat fire with his second hot mug of Sithig’s special nettle root beer that he informed George and Riavach who had entered the kitchen earlier, of an instruction that left them stunned.
‘The general has been pressured by the English Parliament that as one of the conditions they would provide transport was that a proportion of the men who would make up the recruits for the new regiment would be selected from the prisoners who had been awaiting transportation on a prison ship based at Thurso. This prison ship was recently involved in an escape attempt, but the prisoners on their way to join your ship were not involved as they were still chained and fastened in their cells when the Redcoats boarded and reclaimed the vessel.’
‘What happened to the prisoners involved in this escape attempt?’ asked George.
‘Well when I left those that had not been killed in the battle and three of the gang who had organised the attempt and had been captured in the town were all locked in the dungeon at Thurso castle awaiting to be hung, as that was the sentence past by the military court that sat the following day.’ The captain stopped to take a large gulp of his herb beer before continuing. ‘Many of the prisoners jumped from the ship as the Redcoats boarded and several bodies were being washed up on the beach as I left.
‘Prior to that I was based in Inverness getting very frustrated while waiting for orders from General Oglethorpe. They eventually arrived late by the supply ship which had been delayed due to exceptional bad weather at sea.
The General had ordered me to join you on your jou
rney to Georgia. I was fortunate to obtain passage on the same supply ship which was continuing its journey and leaving that day for the port of Thurso. We arrived at the mouth of the harbour of that town to find it blocked by an English Navy frigate. Apparently, the prisoners held aboard the prison ship moored in the harbour there had, with the help from associates, overcome the guards and attempted to sail the boat out of the harbour.’
‘Never!’ said George, with a feigned act of astonishment.
‘As I stand before you that is the truth, George,’ said the captain taking another long swig from his mug of nettle beer, then carried on with is story.
‘Fortunately, with it being low tide, they ran aground on a sand bank outside the harbour entrance. The officer in charge of the garrison ordered an attempt to board the ship, but the prisoners were manning the scatter guns situated on the decks, so he decided to delay the attempt and he withdrew his troops. He was only in temporary control as the garrison commander was away on patrol, so rather than inevitably sustain causalities in an attempt to board the vessel, he decided to await his commander’s return.
‘It was during this stand-off while the prison ship was still stranded that a frigate arrived carrying extra troops. The captain of the frigate, a Captain O’Brian, who incidentally told me afterwards he is acquainted with you, having recently visited and been entertained at Tongue House; well, he gave the prisoners the option of surrendering or being blown out of the water. Most of the prisoners decided that prudence was the better part of valour and surrendered. But many jumped into the water and tried to escape; some were recaptured by the soldiers circling the ship in the longboats and several drowned in the strong undercurrents that run there about. Their bodies were still being washed up at various places along the beach when I left.’