CHAPTER IV IN SWEDEN FTER much discussion the party agreed that it would be best to make for Southampton. ‘The road thither was less frequented than that leading to London, and there were fewer towns to be passed and less chance of interrup- tion. Mr. Jervoise had brought with him a valise and suit of clothes for Sir Marmaduke, of sober cut and fashion. They avoided all large towns, and at the places where they put up represented themselves as traders travelling from the Midlands to the southern coast, and they arrived at Southampton without having excited the smallest suspicion. Indeed, throughout the journey they had heard no word of the affray near Chapel-le-Frith, and knew, therefore, that the news had not travelled as fast as they had. At South- ampton, however, they had scarcely put up at an inn when the landlord said: “T suppose, gentlemen, they are talking of nothing else in London but the rescue of a desperate Jacobite by his friends. ‘The news only reached here yesterday.” “Tt has occasioned a good deal of scare,” Mr. Jervoise replied. “I suppose there is no word of the arrest of the man or his accomplices? We have travelled but slowly, and the news may have passed us on the way.” “Not as yet,” the landlord replied. “They say that all the northern and eastern ports are watched, and they make 68