Kate Bonnet Part 19

Blackbeard made no answer; he stepped to the side of the vessel and looked over. "Let go!" he shouted to the man who held the boat's rope, "and you rascals row out a dozen strokes from my vessel and keep your boat there; and if you move an oar towards the town I will sink you!"

With that he ordered two small guns to be trained upon the boat.

The boat's crew did not hesitate one second in obeying these orders.

They knew by whom they were given, and there was no man in the great body of free companions who would disobey an order given by Blackbeard.

They rowed to the position a.s.signed them and sat quietly looking into the mouths of the two cannon which were pointed towards them.

"Now then," said Blackbeard, turning to Bittern, "I think they'll stay there till they get some other order."

Between frequent sips at the cup of brandy Bittern told the story of the Revenge, and Blackbeard listened with many an oath and many a pound upon his ma.s.sive knee by his mighty fist.

"Oh, I have heard of him," he cried, "I have heard of him! He has played the devil along the Atlantic coast. He must he a great fellow this--what did you say his name was?"

"Bonnet," said the other.

Blackbeard laughed. "That suits him well; he must have clapped his name over the eyes of many a merchant captain! Where did he sail before he hoisted the Jolly Roger?"

At this Bittern laughed. "He never sailed anywhere, he is no seaman; and if he were not rich enough to pay others to do his navigatin' for him he would have run his vessel upon the first sand-bar on his way from Bridgetown to the sea. But he pays some good mariner to sail his Revenge, and he now pays me. I am, in fact, the captain of his vessel."

"You mean," cried Blackbeard, "that he knows nothing of navigation?"

"Not a whit," replied the other; "he doesn't know the backstays from the taffrail. It was only yesterday that he thought he was already in the port of Belize, and dressed himself up like a fighting-c.o.c.k to meet you."

"To meet me?" roared Blackbeard; "what does he want to meet me for, and why don't he come and do it instead of sending you?"

"Not he," said Bittern. "He is a great man, if not a sailor; he knows what is politeness on shipboard, and as he is the last comer you must be the first caller. He is all dressed up now, hoping that you will row over to the Revenge as soon as you know that he is its commander."

The hairy pirate leaned back and laughed in loud explosions.

"He is a rare man, truly," he exclaimed, "this Captain Nightcap of yours--"

"Bonnet," interrupted Bittern.

"Well, one is as good as the other," cried Blackbeard, "and he be well clothed if it be of the right colour. And you started out with him to sail his ship, you rascal? That's a piece of impudence almost as great as his own."

Bittern did not much like this speech, and wanted to explain that since he had served under Blackbeard he had commanded vessels himself, but he restrained himself and told how Sam Loftus had been tumbled overboard for running afoul his captain, and how he had been appointed to his place.

Now Blackbeard laughed again, with a great pound upon his knee. "He is a man after my own heart," he shouted, "be he sailor or no sailor, this nightcap commander of yours. I know I shall love him!" And springing to his feet and uttering a resounding oath, he swore that he would visit his new brother that afternoon.

"Now, away with you!" cried Blackbeard, "and tell Sir Nightcap--"

"Bonnet," interrupted Bittern.

"Well, Bonnet, or Cap, it matters not to me. Row straight back to your ship, and let him know that I shall be there and shall expect to be received with admiral's honours."

Bittern looked somewhat embarra.s.sed. "But, captain," he said, "my men are on their way to the town, and I fear me they will rebel if I tell them they cannot now go there."

In saying this the sailing-master spoke not only for his men, but for himself. He was very anxious to go ash.o.r.e; he had business there; he wanted to see who were in the place, and what was going on before Bonnet should go to the town.

"What!" cried Blackbeard, putting his head down like a charging bull. "I order you to row back to your vessel and take my message; and if you do it not I will sink you all in a bunch! Into your boat, sir, and waste not another minute. If you are not able to command your men, I will keep you here and give them a c.o.xswain who can."

Without another word, Bittern scuffled over the side, and, his boat being brought up, he dropped into it.

"Now, men," he said, "I have a message from Captain Blackbeard to the Revenge; bend to it as I steer that way."

"Give my pious regards to your Sir Nightcap," shouted Blackbeard. And then, in a still higher tone, he yelled to them that if they disobeyed their c.o.xswain and turned their bow sh.o.r.eward he would sink them all to the unsounded depths of Hades. Without a protest the men pulled vigorously towards the Revenge, while Black Paul, considering it a new affront to be called "c.o.xswain" when he was in reality captain, earnestly sent Blackbeard to the same regions to which he had just referred.

CHAPTER XVII

AN ORNAMENTED BEARD

It was about the middle of the afternoon when a large boat, well filled, was seen approaching the Revenge from Blackbeard's vessel. As soon as it had become known that this chief of all pirates of that day, this Edward Thatch of England, was really coming on board the Revenge, not one word was uttered among the crew on the subject of going ash.o.r.e, although they had been long at sea. The sh.o.r.e could wait when Blackbeard was coming.

Even to look upon this doughty desperado would be an honour and a joy to the brawny scoundrels who made up the crew of the Revenge.

It might have been supposed that everything upon Captain Bonnet's vessel had been made ready for the expected advent of Blackbeard, but nothing seemed good enough, nothing seemed as effectively placed and arranged as it might have been; and with execrations and commands, Bonnet hurried here and there, making everything, if possible, more ship-shape than it had been before.

"Stay you two in the background," he said to Ben Greenway and d.i.c.kory; "you are both landsmen, and you don't count in a ceremony such as this is going to be. Station your men as I told you, Bittern, and man the yards when it is time."

Captain Bonnet, in his brave uniform and wearing a c.o.c.ked hat with a feather, his hand upon his sword-hilt, stood up tall and stately. When the boat was made fast and the great pirate's head appeared above the rail, six cannon roared a welcome and Bonnet stepped forward, hand extended and hat uplifted.

The instant Blackbeard's feet touched the deck he drew from their holsters a pair of pistols and fired them in the air.

"Now then," he shouted, "we are even, salute for salute, for my pistols are more than equal to the cannon of any other man. How goes it with you, Sir Nightcap--Bonnet, I mean?" And with that he clasped the hand reached out to him in a bone-crushing grasp.

His fingers aching and his brain astonished, Bonnet could not comprehend what sort of a man it was who stood before him. With hair purposely dishevelled; with his hat more slouched than usual; with his beard divided into tails, each tied with a different-coloured ribbon; with half a dozen pistols strung across his breast; with other pistols and a knife or two stuck into his belt; with his great sword by his side, and his eyes gleaming brighter than ever and a general expression, both in face and figure, of an aggressive impudence, Blackbeard stood on his stout legs, clothed in rough red stockings, and gazed about him. But the captain of the Revenge did not forget his manners. He welcomed Blackbeard with all courtesy and besought him to enter his poor cabin.

Blackbeard laughed. "Poor cabin, say you? But I'll tell you this one thing, my valiant Captain Cap; you have not a poor vessel, not a poor vessel, I swear that to you, my brave captain, I swear that!"

Then, with no attention to Bonnet's invitation, Captain Blackbeard strolled about the deck, examining everything, cursing this and praising that, and followed by Captain Bonnet, Black Paul, and a crowd of admiring pirates.

Ben Greenway bowed his head and groaned. "I doubt if Master Bonnet will ever go to the de'il as I feared he would, for now has the de'il come to him. Oh, d.i.c.kory, d.i.c.kory! this master o' mine was a worthy mon an' a good ane when I first came to him, an' a' that I hae I owe to him, for I was in sad case, d.i.c.kory, very sad case; but now that he has Apollyon for his teacher, he'll cease to know righteousness altogither."

d.i.c.kory was angry and out of spirits. "He is a vile poltroon, this master of yours," said he, "consorting with these b.l.o.o.d.y pirates and leaving his daughter to pine away her days and nights within a little sail of him, while he struts about at the heel of a dirty freebooter dressed like a monkey! He doesn't deserve the daughter he possesses. Oh, that I could find a ship that would take me back to Jamaica! And I would take you too, Ben Greenway, for it is a foul shame that a good man should spend his days in such vile company."

Ben shook his head. "I'll stand by Master Bonnet," he said, "until the day comes when I shall bid him fareweel at the door o' h.e.l.l. I can go no farther than that, d.i.c.kory, no farther than that!"

From forecastle to quarter-deck, from bowsprit to taffrail, Blackbeard scrutinized the Revenge.

"What mean you, dog?" he said to Bittern, Bonnet being at a little distance; "you tell me he is no mariner. This is a brave ship and well appointed."

"Ay, ay," said the sailing-master, "it has the neatness of his kitchen or his storehouses; but if his cables were coiled on his yard-arms or his anchor hung up to dry upon the main shrouds, he would not know that anything was wrong. It was Big Sam Loftus who fitted out the Revenge, and I myself have kept everything in good order and ship-shape ever since I took command."

"Command!" growled Blackbeard. "For a charge of powder I would knock in the side of your head for speaking with such disrespect of the brave Sir Nightcap."

The supper in the cabin of the Revenge was a better meal than the voracious Blackbeard had partaken of for many a year, if indeed he had ever sat down to such a sumptuous repast. Before him was food and drink fit for a stout and hungry sea-faring man, and there were wines and dainties which would have had fit place upon the table of a gentleman.