As day broadened the Thames narrowed. Many ships, great and small, came closer to the _Queen of the Medway_ as she moved forward with the flowing tide. Suddenly a frigate, pushing seaward against the stream, set the Thames on fire with curiosity. Her flag was flying at half-mast. A minute later the incoming craft had read her signals. King William was dead. The captain, the mate, and Antonio uncovered; and, rather tardily, the crew did the same. A big East Indiaman, just ahead, began firing signal-guns in an aimless way, while a small collier half-masted a grimy Union Jack of incorrect design. If all the ships' companies were like the crew of the _Queen of the Medway_, there was much less grief than excitement. Even Antonio, who immediately went below with a troubled face, was selfish in his regrets. Now King William was dead, would the new King take the pipes of port? Mr. Austin Crowberry, Senhor Castro's London partner, was not at the wharf when the _Queen of the Medway_ made fast. But Antonio had no trouble. As the cargo was wholly for the King it was not subject to customs-duties, and the formalities were completed in a few moments. Indeed, one high official of the Excise was so anxious to be obliging that he strove hard to carry Antonio off to dine at a famous tavern. When Mr. Crowberry arrived at last it was evident that he had been honoring the Castro juices with his active patronage. He recognized Antonio, whom he had seen twice in Gaia, and shook him so warmly by the hand that it was no longer possible to doubt his exhilarated condition. He would have drunk two bottles more in the captain's cabin if Antonio had not schemed to show him an empty cupboard. Very soon he lost his temper and launched into imprudent and disloyal grumblings. The House of Hanover, he said, was a house of spendthrifts and madmen. Who but a madman, he demanded of Antonio point-blank, would go and die on the very eve of filling his cellar with Waterloo port? And who was this chit Victoria? She was a slip of a wench nobody had ever heard of. He wound up by thanking his stars that he had only one child, seeing that the country could not possibly last another ten years. Like the gorgeous officer of the Excise, Mr. Austin Crowberry tried his best to drag Antonio away to a tavern. But the monk stood firm. Until some officer of the royal household should take the cargo off his hands, not Senhor Castro himself could have induced him to leave the _Queen of the Medway_ for a moment. His quarters were narrow, the deck was malodorous: but Antonio stuck to his post. IV