ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS 



295 



When Charles heard that awkward discovery he 

 was off iu haste, for if a rural blacksmith was clever 

 enough to discover so much, it was quite possible that 

 he might apply his knowledge in a very embarrassing 

 manner. 



The little band had not hurried away a moment 

 too soon, for the ostler of the inn (what Sherlock 

 Holmes's all these Dorsetshire folks were, to be sure !) 

 w^ho had already arrived independently at the con- 

 clusion that this was King Charles, had in the mean- 

 while gone to the Rev. Bartholomew Wesley, a local 

 Roundhead divine, and told him his thoughts. Thence 

 to the inn, where legends tell us the landlady gave 

 Mr. Wesley a fine full-fiavoured piece of her mind, 

 and so eventually to the ears of a captain of horse, 

 this wondrous news spread. Horsemen scoured the 

 country ; clergyman re- 

 turned home to think 

 over the loyal landlady's 

 abuse ; ostler, prob- 

 ably dismissed, had 

 leisure to curse his 

 officiousness ; while 

 King and companions 

 were off, whip and spur, 

 to Bridport, whence, 

 after that alarming 

 recoo'nition at the Har- 



o 



hour, to Broadwinsor. 



This historic Charmouth inn is still existino-. 



o 



The ' Anchor,' as it is now known, was for many }'ears 

 the ' (,)ueen"s Arms,' but although the sisjn has thus 



cc, ««^ij3. 



INTEHIdi; OF THE ' QUEEN's ARMS,' 

 CHAKMOUTH. 



