It was not easy to break away from their enthusiastic loyalty.
"Stay with us," they said; "the mountains of gold which the government
has set upon your head may induce some gentleman to betray you, for he
can go to a distant country and live upon the price of his dishonor. But
to us there exists no such temptation. We can speak no language but our
own, we can live nowhere but in this country, where, were we to injure a
hair of your head, the very mountains would fall down to crush us to
death. Do not leave us, then. You will nowhere be so safe as with us."
This advice was hardly to Charles's taste. He preferred court-life in
France to cave-life in Scotland, and did not cease his efforts to
escape. His purposes were aided by an instance of enthusiastic devotion.
A young man named McKenzie, son of an Edinburgh goldsmith, and a
fugitive officer from the defeated army, happened to resemble the prince
closely in face and person. He was attacked by a party of soldiers,
defended himself bravely, and when mortally wounded, cried out, "Ah,
villains, you have slain your prince!"
His generous design proved successful. His head was cut off, and sent to
London as that of the princely fugitive, which it resembled so closely
that it was some time before the mistake was discovered.
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