"A GREAT HEAP OF CORD-WOOD and kindling, saturated with oil, was found on the brink of the cliff at Dover," asserted Roger Comstock, Marquis of Ravenscar and Chancellor of the Exchequer, "ready to speed the news of his majesty’s assassination across the Channel." Seated in the (more desirable) forward-facing bench of the boat, he held his head high, and gazed down the Thames as if combing the skies above the Nore for encrypted smoke-signals.