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264 gate clap to loudly, whereupon the miller, who was a loyalist and had served noble refugees from the Worcester battle with him, rushed out and shouted, "Who is there?" Richard not knowing the miller's politics, dashed off with the King over a little brook which they were obliged to wade through. This made walking painful to the King, as his shoes were filled with water and gravel. The night was very dark, and, as he oftentimes pleasantly remarked, he would have lost his guide had it not been for the rustling of Richard's calfskin breeches. They arrived at Woolf's house in Madeley about midnight, and Richard knocked them up from their beds. The daughter came first to the door, and without a moment's hesitation as to her loyalty, he told her the King was there, who was immediately welcomed to their fireside. After some refreshment, they resolved themselves into a committee of ways and means, and discussed the best mode of escape. The Parliamentary bands guarded the Severn at various points, and some of these troopers had quartered recently at Woolf's house. It had no place of concealment that could be trusted, and the King was in greater danger than at Boscobel. So as it was very unsafe for him to lie down to sleep in the house, they took him into the barn, and made him a bed on the hayloft. There he continued all next day, while