Then it gradually grew dark again; a thick fog came up from the Scheldt and came to rest over the town of Antwerp. The lights of the quayside shimmered redly through the mist and the rigging of the galleon, the Andrea Doria, dripped with condensation. The ship lay at anchor next to the harbour walls and the houses on the quayside and on its deck Captain Antonio Valani, a young man approximately thirty years old, wrapped in a thick cloak, walked backwards and forwards while the waves of the river, gently lapping the hull of his ship, washed to and fro and from the quayside and the town came the dull din of excited locals. The captain paused in his pacing and stared up at the lights of the town shimmering over the wall just as at his side his bosun, Leone della Rota, a boon companion of his youth from la strada Giulia in Genoa, appeared and put his hand on his shoulder: "A penny for your thoughts, Antonio." The man to whom this was directed looked up almost startled. "Ah, it's you, Leone. Do you bring any news from the outside world?" "Yes, but it isn't good news by any means. It came to the admiral's notice from Fort Liefkenhoek that the story about last night was true. The Immaculate Conception has been dragged down to hell bag and baggage. Only the cabin boy came ashore alive, landing at Fort Bats clinging on to an empty water barrel. There was great jubilation among the heretics and the fishwives of Zeeland--frighteningly ugly creatures, Antonio-- dried the boy off and sent him here to give their regards to His Excellency the Governor. They took the boy into the citadel. Well, we'll soon be hearing from the admiral himself." "God grant it may be so," cried out the Andrea Doria's captain, stamping the deck with his foot in a temper. "Leone, I can't stand this enforced idleness of lying at anchor any longer!" "Idleness?" laughed the ship's bosun. "By the fair frame of Venus, I didn't know we were being idle. I thought it might be possible to make use of this time we're lying here at anchor. Corpo di Bacco, I've made a fine conquest of a strapping wench in town in the tavern with the arms of Alcantara hanging up outside. You're invited, Antonio." "You never take life seriously, Leone!" sighed the captain.