CHAPTER XXXIV
CAPTAIN THOMAS OF THE ROYAL JAMES
When Blackbeard's little fleet anchored in Topsail Inlet, Stede Bonnet,who had not been informed of the intentions of the pirate, was a gooddeal puzzled. Since joining Blackbeard's fleet in the vessel which cameup from Belize, Bonnet had considered himself very shabbily treated, andhis reasons for that opinion were not bad. During the engagements offCharles Town his services had not been required and his opinion had notbeen consulted, Blackbeard having no use for the one and no respect forthe other. The pirate captain had taken a fancy to Ben Greenway, whilehis contempt for the Scotchman's master increased day by day; and it wasfor this reason that Greenway had been taken on board the flag-ship,while Bonnet remained on one of the smaller vessels.
Bonnet was in a discontented and somewhat sulky mood, but whenBlackbeard's full plans were made known to him and he found that hemight again resume command of his own vessel, the Revenge, if he choseto do so, his eyes began to sparkle once more.
Ben Greenway soon resumed his former position with Bonnet, for it didnot take Blackbeard very long to settle up his affairs, and in a veryshort time he became tired of the work of conversion; or, to speak morecorrectly, of the bore of talking about it. Bonnet was glad to have theScotchman back again, although he never ceased to declare his desire toget rid of this faithful friend and helper; for, when the Revenge againcame into his hands, there were many things to be done, and few peopleto help him do it.
"It will be merchandise an' fair trade this time," said Ben, "an' ye'llfind it no' so easy as your piracies, though safer. An' when ye're offto see the Governor an' hae got your pardon, it'll be a happy day,Master Bonnet, for ye an' for your daughter, an' for your brother-in-lawan' everybody in Bridgetown wha either knew ye or respected ye."
"No more of that," cried Bonnet. "I did not say I was going toBridgetown, or that I wanted anybody there to respect me. It is mypurpose to fit out the Revenge as a privateer and get a commission tosail in her in the war between Spain and the Allies. This will be muchmore to my taste, Ben Greenway, than trading in sugar and hides."
Greenway was very grave.
"There is so little difference," said he, "between a privateer an' apirate that it is a great strain on a common mind to keep them separate;but a commission from the king is better than a commission from thede'il, an' we'll hope there won't be much o' a war after all is said an'done."
There was not much intercourse between Blackbeard and Bonnet at TopsailInlet. The pirate was on very good terms with the authorities at thatplace, who for their own sakes cared not much to interfere with him, andBonnet had his own work in hand and industriously engaged in it. He wentto Bath and got his pardon; he procured a clearance for St. Thomas,where he freely announced his intention to take out a commission asprivateer, and he fitted out his vessel as best he could. Of men he hadnot many, but when he left the inlet he sailed down to an island on thecoast, where Blackbeard, having had too many men on his return fromCharles Town, had marooned a large number of the sailors belonging tohis different crews, finding this the easiest way of getting rid ofthem. Bonnet took these men on board with the avowed intention of takingthem to St. Thomas, and then he set sail upon the high seas as free anduntrammelled as a fish-hawk sweeping over the surface of a harbour withclearance papers tied to his leg.
Stede Bonnet had changed very much since he last trod the quarter-deckof the Revenge as her captain. He was not so important to look at, andhe put on fewer airs of authority, but he issued a great many morecommands. In fact, he had learned much about a sailor's life, ofnavigation and the management of a vessel, and was far better able tocommand a ship than he had ever been before. He had had a long rest fromthe position of a pirate captain, and he had not failed to takeadvantage of the lessons which had been involuntarily given him by theveteran scoundrels who had held him in contempt. He was now, to a greatextent, sailing-master as well as captain of the Revenge; but BenGreenway, who was much given to that sort of thing, undertook to offerBonnet some advice in regard to his course.
"I am no sailor," said he, "but I ken a chart when I see it, an' it ismy opeenion that there is no need o' your sailin' so far to the eastbefore ye turn about southward. There is naething much stickin' out fromthe coast between here an' St. Thomas."
Bonnet looked at the Scotchman with lofty contempt.
"Perhaps you can tell me," said he, "what there is stickin' out from thecoast between here and Ocracoke Inlet, where you yourself told me thatBlackbeard had gone with the one sloop he kept for himself?"
"Blackbeard!" shouted the Scotchman, "an' what in the de'il have ye gotto do wi' Blackbeard?"
"Do with that infernal dog?" cried Bonnet, "I have everything to do withhim before I do aught with anybody or anything besides. He stole from memy possessions, he degraded me from my position, he made me alaughing-stock to my men, and he even made me blush and bow my head withshame before my daughter and my brother-in-law, two people in whosesight I would have stood up grander and bolder than before any others inthe world. He took away from me my sword and he gave me instead awretched pen; he made me nothing where I had been everything. He evenceased to consider me any more than if I had been the dirty deck underhis feet. And then, when he had done with my property and could get nomore good out of it, he cast it to me in charity as a man would toss apenny to a beggar. Before I sail anywhere else, Ben Greenway," continuedBonnet, "I sail for Ocracoke Inlet, and when I sight Blackbeard'smiserable little sloop I shall pour broadside after broadside into heruntil I sink his wretched craft with his bedizened carcass on board ofit."
"But wi' your men stand by ye?" cried Greenway. "Ye're neither a piratenor a vessel o' war to enter into a business like that."
Bonnet swore one of his greatest oaths. "There is no business nor warfor me, Ben Greenway," he cried, "until I have taught that insolentBlackbeard what manner of man I am."
Ben Greenway was very much disheartened. "If Blackbeard should sink theRevenge instead of Master Bonnet sinking him," he said to himself, "andwould be kind enough to maroon my old master an' me, it might be thebest for everybody after all. Master Bonnet is vera humble-minded an'complacent when bad fortune comes upon him, an' it is my opeenion thaton a desert island I could weel manage him for the good o' his soul."
But there were no vessels sunk on that cruise. Blackbeard had gone,nobody knew where, and after a time Bonnet gave up the search for hisold enemy and turned his bow southward. Now Ben Greenway's countenancegleamed once more.
"It'll be a glad day at Spanish Town when Mistress Kate shall get myletter."
"And what have you been writing to her?" cried Bonnet.
"I told her," said Ben Greenway, "how at last ye hae come to your rightmind, an' how ye are a true servant o' the king, wi' your pardon in yourpocket an' your commission waitin' for ye at St. Thomas, an' that,whatever else ye may do at sea, there'll be no more black flag floatin'over your head, nor a see-saw plank wobblin' under the feet o' onybodyelse. The days o' your piracies are over, an' ye're an honest mon oncemore."
"You wrote her that?" said Bonnet, with a frown.
"Ay," said Greenway, "an' I left it in the care o' a good mon, whoseship is weel on its way to Kingston by this day."
That afternoon Captain Bonnet called all his men together and addressedthem.
He made a very good speech, a better one than that delivered when hefirst took real command of the Revenge after sailing out of the river atBridgetown, and it was listened to with respectful and earnest interest.In brief manner he explained to all on board that he had thrown to thewinds all idea of merchandising or privateering; that his pardon and hisship's clearance were of no value to him except he should happen to getinto some uncomfortable predicament with the law; that he had no idea ofsailing towards St. Thomas, but intended to proceed up the coast to burnand steal and rob and slay wherever he might find it convenient to doso; that he had brought the greater part of his crew from the desertisland where Blackbeard had left the
m because he knew that they werestout and reckless fellows, just the sort of men he wanted for thepiratical cruise he was about to begin; and that, in order to misleadany government authorities who by land or sea might seek to interferewith him, he had changed the name of the good old Revenge to the RoyalJames, while its captain, once Stede Bonnet, was now to be known onboard and everywhere else as Captain Thomas, with nothing against him.He concluded by saying that all that had been done on that ship from thetime she first hoisted the black flag until the present moment wasnothing at all compared to the fire and the blood and the booty whichshould follow in the wake of that gallant vessel, the Royal James,commanded by Captain Thomas.
The men looked at each other, but did not say much. They were allpirates, although few of them had regularly started out on a piraticalcareer, and there was nothing new to them in this sort of piraticaldishonour. In the little cruise after Blackbeard their new captain hadshown himself to be a good man, ready with his oaths and very certainabout what he wanted done. So, whenever Stede Bonnet chose to run up theJolly Roger, he might do it for all they cared.
Poor Ben Greenway sat apart, his head bowed upon his hands.
"You seem to be in a bad case, old Ben," said Bonnet, gazing down uponhim, "but you throw yourself into needless trouble. As soon as I layhold of some craft which I am willing shall go away with a sound hull, Iwill put you on board of her and let you go back to the farm. I willkeep you no longer among these wicked people, Ben Greenway, and in thiswicked place."
Ben shook his head. "I started wi' ye an' I stay wi' ye," said he, "an'I'll follow ye to the vera gates o' hell, but farther than that, MasterBonnet, I willna go; at the gates o' hell I leave ye!"