"After this, I will not hesitate to ask you plainly if you can procure a vessel to transport his majesty to France?" "Do not let the hire of the vessel be a consideration, captain," said Careless. "I am charged by his majesty to offer any terms that may be required." "Too large a sum must not be offered, or it would excite suspicion," rejoined Captain Ellesdon. "The skipper we engage must be led to believe that his passengers are only fugitive Cavaliers from Worcester--nothing higher. I know a shipmaster who is an honest fellow, and a perfect Royalist, but for all that, I would not trust him with this great secret." "Is the shipmaster you refer to in Lyme now, captain?" inquired Careless, eagerly. "His vessel is in the Cobb, but he himself is at Charmouth. He is a tenant of mine, by name Stephen Limbry. Yesterday I chanced to enter the Custom House, and I found that Limbry had just entered his bark, intending a speedy voyage to St. Malo." "To St. Malo!" exclaimed Careless, joyfully. "The very port to which his majesty desires to sail. Nothing could be more fortunate." "A most fortunate circumstance indeed," said Colonel Wyndham. "It would seem as if Providence designed that the king should be thus delivered from his foes. You must see Stephen Limbry without delay, captain." "We will all ride over to Charmouth together," said Ellesdon. "'Tis but a mile hence. Your horses, I suppose, are at the inn? I will follow you there as soon as I can get my own horse saddled." Colonel Wyndham and Careless then proceeded to the George, which was in the lower part of the town, and they had only just got out their horses when Captain Ellesdon made his appearance, mounted on a stout hackney. "We will ride by the coast, if you please, gentlemen," he said. "The tide is low, and the sands are firm and good." CHAPTER X. STEPHEN LIMBRY OF CHARMOUTH, SHIP-MASTER.