In the Palace, on its bluff above the river, King Manuel was
practically alone. No minister, no general, was at his side. It is
said, on what seems to be good authority, that when he saw the _San
Raphael_ moving down-stream under the Republican colors, he telephoned
to the Prime Minister, Teixeira de Sousa, to ask whether there was not
a British destroyer in the river that could be got to sink the mutinous
vessel. Even if this scheme had been otherwise feasible, it would have
demanded an effort of which the minister was no longer capable. At
about two in the afternoon the _San Raphael_, cruising slowly up and
down, opened fire upon the Palace, and her second shot brought down the
royal standard from its roof. What could the poor boy do? To sit still
and be blown to pieces would have been heroic, but useless. Had he had
the stuff of a soldier in him, he might have made his way to the Rocio
and tried to put some energy into the officers, some spirit into the
troops. But he had no one to encourage and support him. Such counselors
as he had were all for flight. He stepped into his motor-car, set off
for Cintra and Mafra, and is henceforth out of the saga.

The flight of Dom Manuel meant the collapse of his cause. It is true
that the Royalists were reenforced by certain detachments of troops who
came in from the country, and, beaten off by the insurgents at the
Rotunda, made their way to the Rocio by a circuitous route. The Guardia
Municipal, too, were stanch, and showed fight at several points. It was
the total lack of spirited leadership that left the insurgents masters
of the field. Having done its work at the Necessidades, the _San
Raphael_ moved up stream again, and began dropping shells over the
intervening parallelogram of the "Low City" into the crowded Rocio.
They caused little loss of life, for they were skilfully timed to
explode in air; the object being, not to massacre, but to dismay. There
is nothing so trying to soldiers as to remain inactive under fire; and