But I should like to know what my hair and Louis's knife can have to do with King Charles." "Wait a bit, Kate, and you shall hear, that is, if you have patience," said her brother.

"Well then, you must know, that after some great battle, the name of which I forget, _[FN: Battle of Worcester.]_ in which the King and his handful of brave soldiers were defeated by the forces of the Parliament, (the Roundheads, as they were called,) the poor young king was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains; a large price was set on his head, to be given to any traitor who should slay him, or bring him prisoner to Oliver Cromwell.

He was obliged to dress himself in all sorts of queer clothes, and hide in all manner of strange, out of the way places, and keep company with rude and humble men, the better to hide his real rank from the cruel enemies that sought his life.

Once he hid along with a gallant gentleman, _[FN: Colonel Careless.]_ one of his own brave officers, in the branches of a great oak.

Once he was hid in a mill; and another time he was in the house of one Pendril, a woodman.