Page:Walks in the Black Country and its green border-land.pdf/277

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and its Green Border-Land.
263

can you be faithful to a distressed Cavalier?' She answered, 'Yes, sir. I will dye rather than discover you;' with which answer his Majesty was well satisfied."

All the day long he lay wet and cold in this concealment, listening for the tread and tramp of his eager and relentless pursuers, who were scouring the country round for him. As the night came on he resolved to make his way into Wales, where he could better elude his hunters, taking brave and faithful Richard Penderel with him as guide. Before they set out on the long foot journey. Richard took him into his house at Hobbal Grange, where his old mother gladly assisted in giving the King a proper outfit for his flight. They turned him into a stout wood-chopper, carrying a wood-bill in his hands, and ostensibly looking for a job in that line of labour. Wil. Jones was the name he assumed, probably thinking it would serve him best in Wales. After taking a little refreshment, the best the old mother and young wife could set out upon their three-legged table, the two started about nine o'clock, resolved to go as far as Madeley that night, a place within a mile of the Severn. Richard had a trusty friend residing in this village by the name of Woolf. Before reaching his house they met with a serious and dangerous mishap. On passing Evelin Mill, Richard accidentally let a