Mr. Tench wanders down to the quayside to retrieve a cylinder of ether. An English expatriate, he works as a dentist in a small portside community in Mexico. He notices an enormous amount of beer being unloaded from the ship. In this Mexican state, hard spirits and wine are prohibited. Mr. Tench keeps forgetting why he came down to the docks, blaming it on the heat.

He encounters a stranger who speaks English, and they have a conversation. The stranger is looking for a man named Lopez, but Mr. Tench informs him that Lopez was shot. When Mr. Tench remarks that he’d love to have a drink, the stranger says that he has some brandy, and Mr. Tench invites him to his house. When the stranger compliments the stained-glass window, Mr. Tench says that he rescued it from the church after the authorities dismantled it. When the stranger asks about his family, Mr. Tench tells him that he hasn’t seen or spoken to his wife or children in many years. Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door: A child has come asking for a doctor. The stranger knows that the child is looking for him. He leaves Mr. Tench, not without bitterness; he’d wanted to see the ship leave port.