t inconvenience which befell him was that he was obliged to
listen to all sorts of long harangues upon the part of the Puritan
soldiers who were his jailers. These treated him as a misguided lad, and
did their best to convert him from the evil of his ways. At last Harry
lost his temper, and said that if they wanted to hang him, they might;
but that he would rather put up with that than the long sermons which
they were in the habit of delivering to him. Indignant at this rejection
of their good offices, they left him to himself, and days passed without
his receiving any visit save that of the soldier who brought his meals.

CHAPTER IV.

BREAKING PRISON.

Harry's place of confinement was a cell leading off a guardroom of the
Train Bands. Occasionally the door was left open, as some five or six
men were always there, and Harry could see through the open door the
citizens of London training at arms. Several preachers were in the habit
of coming each day to discourse to those on guard, and so while away the
time, and upon these occasions the door was generally left open, in
order that the prisoner might be edified by the sermons. Upon one
occasion the preacher, a small, sallow-visaged man, looked into the cell
at the termination of his discourse, and seeing Harry asleep on his
truckle bed, awoke him, and lectured him severely on the wickedness of
allowing such precious opportunities to pass. After this he made a point
of coming in each day when he had addressed the guard, and of offering
up a long and very tedious prayer on behalf of the young reprobate.
These preachings and prayings nearly drove Harry out of his mind.
Confinement was bad enough; but confinement tempered by a course of
continual sermons, delivered mostly through the nose, was a terrible
infliction. At last the thought presented itself to him that he might
manage to effect his escape in the garb of the preacher. He thought the
details over and over in his mind, and at last determined at any rate to
attempt to carry them into execution.

One day he noticed, when the door opened for the entry of the preacher,
that a parade of unusual magnitude was being held in the drill yard,
some officer of importance having come down to inspect the Train Band.
There were but four men left in the guardroom and these were occupied in
gazing out of the window. The preacher came direct into the cell, as his
audience in the guardroom for once were not disposed to liste