He told me
that he was but newly come thither; that he was born in Exeter,
and had been ostler in an inn there, hard by one Mr. Potter's, a
merchant in whose house I had lain in the time of the war. So I
thought it best to give the fellow no further occasion of
thinking where he had seen me, for fear he should guess right at
last; therefore I told him, 'Friend, certainly you have seen me
then at Mr. Potter's, for I served him a good while above a
year.' 'Oh,' says he, 'then I remember you a boy there;' and with
that was put off from thinking any more on it, but desired that
we might drink a pot of beer together, which I excused by saying
that I must go wait on my master, and get his dinner ready for
him; but told him that my master was going to London, and would
return about three weeks hence, when he would be there, and I
would not fail to drink a pot with him."
The king and his friends, having dined at the inn, got word that
the master of the ship, suspecting that it was some dangerous
employment he had been hired for, absolutely refused to fulfil
his contract. Therefore they, being sad at heart and fearful,
retraced their steps to Trent, and presently his majesty went
further into Sussex, and abode with a staunch Royalist, one
Colonel Gunter, who resided within four miles of Salisbury. This
excellent man at last succeeded in hiring a ship to carry away
the king, and so Charles made another journey to Brighthelmstone,
where he met the captain of the vessel and the merchant that had
hired her on behalf of Colonel Gunter, both of whom had been kept
in ignorance of their future passenger's identity.
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