attersall by name, with the
merchant who had engaged his vessel, supped with the party at the
village inn. It was a jovial meal. The prince, glad at the near approach
of safety, allowed himself some freedom of speech. Captain Tattersall
watched him closely throughout the meal. After supper he drew his
merchant friend aside, and said to him,--

"You have not dealt fairly with me in this business. You have paid me a
good price to carry over that gentleman; I do not complain of that; but
you should have been more open. He is the king, as I very well know."

"You are very much mistaken, captain," protested the merchant,
nervously. "What has put such nonsense into your pate?"

"I am not mistaken," persisted the captain. "He took my ship in '48,
with other fishing-craft of this port, when he commanded his father's
fleet. I know his face too well to be deceived. But don't be troubled at
that; I think I do my God and my country good service in preserving the
king; and by the grace of God, I will venture my life and all for him,
and set him safely on shore, if I can, in France."

Happily for Charles, he had found a friend instead of a foe in this
critical moment of his adventure. He found another, for the mariner was
not the only one who knew his face. As he stood by the fire, with his
palm resting on the back of a chair, the inn-keeper came suddenly up and
kissed his hand.

"God bless you wheresoever you go!" he said, fervently. "I do not doubt,
before I die, to be a lord, and my wife a lady."

Charles burst into a hearty laugh at this ambitious remark of his host.
He had been twice discovered within the hour, after a month and a half
of impunity. Yet he felt that he could put full trust in these worthy
men, and slept soundly that last night on English soil.

At five o'clock of the next morning, he, with Lord Wilmot, his constant
companion, went on board the little sixty-ton craft, which lay in
Shoreham harbor, waiting the tide to put to sea. By daybreak they were
on the waves. The prince was resting in the cabin, when in came Captain
Tattersall, kissed his hand, professed devotion to his interests, and
suggested a course for him to pursue.

His crew, he said, had been shipped for the English port of Poole. To
head for France might cause suspicion. He advised Charles to represent
himself as a merchant who was in debt and afraid of arrest in England,
and who wished to reach France to collect money due him at Rouen. If he