“Right you are, Johnny, you old sea-lawyer. They can’t bother the king until he is actually on board and the ship is cleared, so the barrister lad tells George.” “Then they’ll be watchin’ the _Tarlington_ like terriers at a rat-hole,” exclaimed the engineer. “No, they won’t,” cried O’Shea with tremendous earnestness. “Do ye mind how we slipped out of Charleston Harbor in the _Hercules_ steamer, bound on the filibusterin’ expedition to Honduras? ’Twas a successful stratagem, and it could be done in London River.” “Sure it could,” and Johnny Kent chuckled joyously. “And the king needn’t know anything about it.” “Of course we will keep it from him if we can,” agreed O’Shea. “I will do anything short of murder to keep him happy and undisturbed. And it would upset him terribly to know that he must be smuggled out of England to dodge the rascals that would keep him at home as a suspected lunatic.” “We’d better put George Huntley next to this proposition of ours,” suggested Johnny. “He itches to be a red-handed conspirator.” The ship-broker admired the scheme when it was explained to him. Yes, the old _Tyneshire Glen_ which they had so scornfully declined to purchase was still at her moorings, and they were welcome to use her as a dummy, or decoy, or whatever one might choose to call it. O’Shea could pretend to load her, he could send as many people on board as he liked, and put a gang of mechanics at work all over the bally old hooker, said Huntley. If the enemies of King Osmond I took it for granted that the _Tyneshire Glen_ was the ship selected to carry him off to Trinadaro, that was their own lookout. It was a regular Yankee trick, by Jove! O’Shea and Johnny Kent took great care to avoid being seen in the vicinity of the _Tarlington_. Such inspection and supervision as were necessary they contrived to attend to after dark. The king was up to his ears in urgent business and was easily persuaded to leave the whole conduct of the ship’s affairs in their capable hands and to waive preliminary visits to the East India Docks. O’Shea employed a Scotch engineer, who understood that his wages depended on his taciturnity, to oversee such repair work as the _Tarlington_ needed, and to keep steam in the donkey-boilers. All signs indicated that the _Tarlington_ was preparing for one of her customary voyages to Australia. Soon the cargo began to stream into her hatches. The ostensible destinations of the truck-loads of cases and crates and bales of merchandise were Sydney, Melbourne, Wellington, Fremantle, and so on. One might read the names of the consignees neatly stencilled on every package. This was done under the eye of Captain O’Shea, who, in his time, had loaded hundreds of boxes of rifles and cartridges innocently labelled “Condensed Milk,” “Prime Virginia Hams,” and “Farming Tools.”