"Silence, boy !" commanded the old man. "Sir Jules be dead, nor are you a
king's son. Remember these two things well, nor ever again let me hear you
speak the name Sir Jules, or call yourself a prince."

The boy went silent, again cowed by the fierce tone of his captor.
Presently he began to whimper, for he was tired and hungry and
frightened -- just a poor little baby, helpless and hopeless in the hands
of this cruel enemy -- all his royalty as nothing, all gone with the silken
finery which lay in the thick mud at the bottom of the Thames, and
presently he dropped into a fitful sleep in the bottom of the skiff.

When darkness had settled, De Vac pushed the skiff outward to the side of
the dock and, gathering the sleeping child in his arms, stood listening,
preparatory to mounting to the alley which led to old Til's place.

As he stood thus, a faint sound of clanking armor came to his attentive
ears; louder and louder it grew until there could be no doubt but that a
number of men were approaching.

De Vac resumed his place in the skiff, and again drew it far beneath the
dock. Scarcely had he done so ere a party of armored knights and
men-at-arms clanked out upon the planks above him from the mouth of the
dark alley. Here they stopped as though for consultation and plainly could
the listener below hear every word of their conversation.

"De Montfort," said one, "what thinkest thou of it ? Can it be that the
Queen is right and that Richard lies dead beneath these black waters ?"

"No, De Clare," replied a deep voice, which De Vac recognized as that of