t is not safe to put
you in any of them. I can offer you no shelter but in my barn, where you
can lie behind the corn and hay."

The prince was grateful even for this sorry shelter, and spent all that
day hidden in the hay, feasting on some cold meat which his host had
given him. The next night he set out for Richard Penderell's house, Mr.
Woolfe having told him that it was not safe to try the Severn, it being
closely guarded at all its fords and bridges. On their way they came
again near the mill. Not caring to be questioned as before by the
suspicious miller, they diverged towards the river.

"Can you swim?" asked Charles of his guide.

"Not I; and the river is a scurvy one."

"I've a mind to try it," said the prince. "It's a small stream at the
best, and I may help you over."

They crossed some fields to the river-side, and Charles entered the
water, leaving his attendant on the bank. He waded forward, and soon
found that the water came but little above his waist.

"Give me your hand," he said, returning. "There's no danger of drowning
in this water."

Leading his guide, he soon stood on the safe side of that river the
passage of which had given him so many anxious minutes.

Towards morning they reached the house of a Mr. Whitgrave, a Catholic,
whom the prince could trust. Here he found in hiding a Major Careless, a
fugitive officer from the defeated army. Charles revealed himself to the
major, and held a conference with him, asking him what he had best do.

"It will be very dangerous for you to stay here; the hue and cry is up,
and no place is safe from search," said the major. "It is not you alone
they are after, but all of our side. There is a great wood near by
Boscobel house, but I would not like to venture that, either. The enemy
will certainly search there. My advice is that we climb into a great,
thick-leaved oak-tree that stands near the woods, but in an open place,
where we can see around us."

"Faith, I like your scheme, major," said Charles, briskly. "It is thick
enough to hide us, you think?"

"Yes; it was lopped a few years ago, and has grown out again very close
and bushy. We will be as safe there as behind a thick-set hedge."

"So let it be, then," said the prince.

Obtaining some food from their host,--bread, cheese, and small beer,
enough for the day,--the two fugitives, Charles and Careless, climbed
into what has since been known as the "royal oak," and remained there
the whole day,