om here and lost a score of troopers and a cornet.'

'We heard something of the brush,' said the King. 'It was bravely done.
But if these men are so close we have no great time for preparation.'

'Their foot cannot be here before a week,' said the Mayor. 'By that time
we might be behind the walls of Bristol.'

'There is one point which might be urged,' observed Wade the lawyer. 'We
have, as your Majesty most truly says, met with heavy discouragement in
the fact that no noblemen and few commoners of repute have declared for
us. The reason is, I opine, that each doth wait for his neighbour to
make a move. Should one or two come over the others would soon follow.
How, then, are we to bring a duke or two to our standards?'

'There's the question, Master Wade,' said Monmouth, shaking his head
despondently.

'I think that it might be done,' continued the Whig lawyer. 'Mere
proclamations addressed to the commonalty will not catch these gold
fish. They are not to be angled for with a naked hook. I should
recommend that some form of summons or writ be served upon each of them,
calling upon them to appear in our camp within a certain date under pain
of high treason.'

'There spake the legal mind,' quoth King Monmouth, with a laugh. 'But
you have omitted to tell us how the said writ or summons is to be
conveyed to these same delinquents.'

'There is the Duke of Beaufort,' continued Wade, disregarding the King's
objection. 'He is President of Wales, and he is, as your Majesty knows,
lieutenant of four English counties. His influence overshadows the whole
West. He hath two hundred horses in his stables at Badminton, and a
thousand men, as I have heard, sit down at his tables every day. Why
should not a special effort be made to gain over such a one, the more so
as we intend to march in his direction?'

'Henry, Duke of Beaufort, is unfortunately already in arms against his
sovereign,' said Monmouth gloomily.

'He is, sire, but he may be induced to turn in your favour the weapon
which he hath raised against you. He is a Protestant. He is said to be a
Whig. Why should we not send a message to him? Flatter his pride. Appeal
to his religion. Coax and threaten him. Who knows? He may have private
grievances of which we know nothing, and may be ripe for such a move.'

'Your counsel is good, Wade,' said Lord Grey, 'but methinks his Majesty
hath asked a pertinent question. Your messenger would, I fear, find
himself swinging upon on