"He will serve to amuse us if he answers no other purpose," said Careless. "But hark! I hear a sound." And after listening intently for a moment, he added in a low voice to the king, "'Tis the trampling of horse. A patrol is coming this way." "I hear the voices of the rogues. Are we perfectly concealed?" "Perfectly, my liege. Keep quite still. I beseech you! The slightest noise may betray us." From the sounds that reached their ears it was plain that three or four horsemen had halted beneath the tree, and were lamenting the ill success that had attended their search for the royal fugitive. "'Tis strange Charles Stuart contrives to evade us so long," remarked one of them. "I begin to think he has escaped." "Had he attempted to escape, we should assuredly have captured him," cried another. "He hath baffled us by keeping quiet. I doubt not he is still in this wood. Ah! if we could only discover his retreat. That Humphrey Penderel could have helped us to it if he would. He is a lying rogue." "Colonel James thinks that the malignant prince will be found at Boscobel," observed a third. "But I doubt it. He does not enter a house. My belief is that he is hidden in a tree." "Perchance in a tree like this?" observed the first interlocutor. "If such is thy opinion, dismount quickly, and climb the tree--even to the top thereof." "And be laughed at for my pains. No, I will not climb the tree, but I will discharge my caliver into its branches. If I bring down Charles Stuart with the shot ye will not mock me." "Of a surety not--we will greatly applaud thy wisdom," cried the others. Upon this the trooper who had previously spoken, pointed his caliver upwards, and fired into the thick of the branches. A loud rustling sound followed the shot. "I have hit something!" cried the trooper, exultingly. "Peradventure it is the king." "If it be the king he has taken the form of a bird," cried the troopers, laughing. As they spoke the owl dropped down on their heads, and its wing being broken by the shot, it fluttered along the ground. Shouting with laughter, the troopers pursued the unlucky bird, but could not catch it. "I have had a narrow escape," said Careless to the king, as soon as the coast was clear. "That rogue's bullet came confoundedly near me. Your majesty will now admit that an owl may be of some use. It has helped us to get rid of those rascally troopers." CHAPTER V. HOW THEY BREAKFASTED IN THE OAK. Thankful for their escape, the king and Careless remained perfectly quiet for some time, conversing only in whispers, lest an enemy might be lurking near. More than an hour elapsed without anything occurring to cause them fresh alarm, when a low whistle was heard. "A signal!" exclaimed Charles. "It may be a device to induce us to discover ourselves," whispered Careless. After a pause the whistle was repeated, and somewhat more loudly. "I will go a little lower down and endeavour to make out who it is," said Careless.