Sebastian revolved these thoughts with deep attention; for the period was critical, and he was about to play a solemn game that staked his liberty and his life, the safety of his wife and daughter, and the existence of Portugal. CHAP. III. Filled with such agitating interests, neither Kara Aziek nor Sebastian marked the dangers of their voyage: they heard the raging storms without apprehension; mightier storms were threatening from afar, of still-deadlier import, and though they cherished a rational hope of finding the scene less fearful than they dreaded, they felt a presentiment of impending evils. In something more than three months they reached St. Lucar, whence they immediately took a passage up the Straits, to Messina. They had re-embarked, and the vessel was under weigh, when a stranger put off in a boat from the shore, and gained the ship. He had come post from Madrid on some business near St. Lucar, and was now anxious to reach the Venetian gulph where he calculated on obtaining a birth in some vessel proceeding to Venice: his looks were those of a man who has just quitted a scene of confusion: he had indeed left the capital of Castille an hour after its gloomy tyrant had breathed his last. Philip the second was dead: and as if the whole fabric of her enormous power was shaken by this event, the strangers in Madrid all hurried to convey the news, each to his own country, anxious to proclaim that this was the moment for crushing the despotism of Spain. Sebastian was sitting alone with Kara Aziek in the cabin they had exclusively engaged for themselves, when the captain suddenly entered, and unconscious of the peculiar interest his passengers had in such a communication, imparted the death of Philip merely as a piece of news. He then bolted out again, leaving Sebastian transfixed with surprise. This event was indeed important to him: it was that which would give his confederates every advantage, by affording them the opportunity of falling upon Spain at a moment when her unsettled government could but feebly resist, or would find it policy to comply with their demands: such an event looked like an omen of success. Amazement had struck both Sebastian and Kara Aziek speechless: they did not hear the concluding sentence of the captain, who had requested leave to send his new passenger into their cabin, as he was of rank, and no other part of the ship was fit for his reception; they were startled therefore to see a stranger of good mien and richly habited, enter their apartment. The bright flush of their countenances subsided directly, and they turned towards the windows; for Sebastian was anxious to avoid the chance of recognition. The stranger hesitated; at length closing the door, he advanced and apologized for his intrusion, pleading the necessity occasioned by a violent fall of rain, which drove him from the deck, and obliged him thus to throw himself upon the politeness of others.