Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/119

 CHAPTER X ROBERT WINTER'S ADVENTURES LTHOUGH, as I have more than once hinted above, Robert Winter was probably the least important of the Gunpowder conspirators, the original account of his escape from Holbeach, and his subsequent adventures before falling into the hands of his enemies, is so interesting, and savours so much of a romance, that a précis of the 'true historicall Declaration' of his 'Flight and Escape' is well worth notice here.

The two fugitives, Robert Winter and Stephen Lyttleton, left Holbeach immediately after the explosion of the gunpowder. That they must have exercised considerable ingenuity in getting away there can be little doubt; but, perhaps, during the confusion caused by the disaster, their retreat was rendered easier. Robert Catesby, luckily for them, was hors de combat; had this not been the case, he would certainly have handled both delinquents very roughly, for he was not the man to tolerate so flagrant a case of desertion from his little force at the eleventh hour.