History of King Charles the Second of EnglandAbbott, Jacob
History
History of King Charles the Second of England
Abbott, Jacob
Charles II, King of England, 1630-1685
Sailors are easily persuaded by arguments that are enforced by small
presents of money. They consented to the plan, and then the king and
Lord Wilmot went to express their wishes to the captain. He made many
objections. It would delay him on his voyage, and lead to many
inconveniences. The passengers, however, urged their request, the
sailors seconding them. The wind was fair, and they could easily run
across the Channel, and then, after they landed, the captain could
pursue his course to the place of his destination. The captain finally
consented; the helm was altered, the sails were trimmed, and the little
vessel bore away toward its new destination on the coast of France.
It was now five o'clock in the afternoon. The English coast soon
disappeared from the horizon, and the next morning, at daylight, they
could see the French shore. They approached the land at a little port
called Fecamp. The wind, however, failed them before they got quite
to the land, and they had to anchor to wait for a turn of the tide to
help them in. In this situation, they were soon very much alarmed by
the appearance of a vessel in the offing, which was coming also toward
the shore. They thought it was a Spanish privateer, and its appearance
brought a double apprehension. There was danger that the privateer
would capture them, France and Spain being then at war. There was
danger, also, that the master of their vessel, afraid himself of being
captured, might insist on making all haste back again to the English
coast; for the wind, though contrary so long as they wished to go on
into their harbor, was fair for taking them away. The king and Lord
Wilmot consulted together, and came to the conclusion to go ashore in
the little boat. They soon made a bargain with the sailors to row them,
and, hastily descending the vessel's side, they entered the boat, and
pushed off over the rolling surges of the Channel.
They were two miles from the shore, but they reached it in safety. The
sailors went back to the vessel. The privateer turned out to be a
harmless trader coming into port. The English vessel recrossed the
Channel, and went on to its original port of destination; and Lord
Wilmot and the king, relieved now of all their anxieties and fears,
walked in their strange English dress up into the village to the inn.
CHAPTER IX.
THE RESTORATION.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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