CHAPTER XXXIII
BLACKBEARD GIVES GREENWAY SOME DIFFICULT WORK
The great pirate Blackbeard, inactive and taking his ease, was seated onthe quarter-deck of his fine vessel, on which he had lately done somesharp work off the harbour of Charles Town. He was now commanding asmall fleet. Besides the ship on which he sailed, he had two othervessels, well manned and well laden with supplies from his recentcaptures. Satisfied with conquest, he was sailing northward to one ofhis favourite resorts on the North Carolina coast.
To this conquering hero now came Ben Greenway, the Scotchman, touchinghis hat.
"And what do you want?" cried the burly pirate. "Haven't they given youyour prize-money yet, or isn't it enough?"
"Prize-money!" exclaimed Greenway. "I hae none o' it, nor will I haeany. What money I hae--an' it is but little--came to me fairly."
"Oho!" cried Blackbeard, "and you have money then, have you? Is itenough to make it worth my while to take it?"
"Ye can count it an' see, whenever ye like," said Ben. "But it isnamoney that I came to talk to ye about. I came to ask ye, at the firstconvenient season, to put me on board that ship out there, that I may bein my rightful place by the side o' Master Bonnet."
"And what good are you to him, or he to you," asked the pirate, with afine long oath, "that I should put myself to that much trouble?"
"I have the responsibeelity o' his soul on my hands," said Ben, "an'since we left Charles Town I hae not seen him, he bein' on ane ship an'I on anither."
"And very well that is too," said Blackbeard, "for I like each of youbetter separate. And now look ye, me kirk bird, you have not done verywell with your 'responsibeelities' so far, and you might as well make upyour mind to stop trying to convert that sneak of a Nightcap and take upthe business of converting me. I'm in great need of it, I can tell you."
"You!" cried Ben.
"I tell you, yes," shouted Blackbeard, "it is I, myself, that I amtalking about. I want to be converted from the evil of my ways, and Ihave made up my mind that you shall do it. You are a good and a piousman, and it is not often that I get hold of one of that kind; or, if Ido, I slice off his head before I discover his quality."
"I fear me," said the truthful Scotchman, "that the job is beyond myabeelity."
"Not a bit of it, not a bit of it," shouted the pirate. "I am fiftytimes easier to work upon than that Nightcap man of yours, and a hundredtimes better worth the trouble. I put no trust in that downfaced farmer.When he shouts loudest for the black flag he is most likely to go intopriestly orders, and the better is he reformed the quicker is he to roband murder. He is of the kind the devil wants, but it is of no use forany one to show him the way there, he is well able to find it forhimself. But it is different with me, you canny Scotchman, it isdifferent with me. I am an open-handed and an open-mouthed scoundrel,and I never pretended to be anything else. When you begin reforming meyou will find your work half done."
The Scotchman shook his head. "I fear me--" he said.
"No, you don't fear yourself," cried Blackbeard, "and I won't have it; Idon't want any of that lazy piety on board my vessel. If you don'treform me, and do it rightly, I'll slice off both your ears."
At this moment a man came aft, carrying a great tankard of mixed drink.Blackbeard took it and held it in his hand.
"Now then, you balking chaplain," he cried, "here's a chance for you tobegin. What would you have me do? Drain off this great mug and goslashing among my crew, or hurl it, mug and all--"
"Nay, nay," cried Greenway, "but rather give half o' it to me; then willit no' disturb your brain, an' mine will be comforted."
"Heigho!" cried Blackbeard. "Truly you are a better chaplain than Ithought you. Drain half this mug and then, by all the powers of heavenand hell, you shall convert me. Now, look ye," said the pirate, when themug was empty, "and hear what a brave repentance I have already begun. Iam tired, my gay gardener, of all these piracies; I have had enough ofthem. Even now, my spoils and prizes are greater than I can manage, andwhy should I strive to make them more? I told you of my younglieutenant, who ran away and who gave his carcass to the birds of preyrather than sail with me and marry my strapping daughter. I liked thatfellow, Greenway, and if he had known what was well for him there mightbe some reason for me to keep on piling up goods and money, but there'scursed little reason for it now. I have merchandise of value at Belizeand much more of it in these ships, besides money from Charles Townwhich ought to last an honest gentleman for the rest of his days."
"Ay," said Ben, "but an honest gentleman is sparing of hisexpenditures."
"And you think I am not that kind of a man, do you?" shouted thepirate. "But let me tell you this. I am sailing now for Topsail Inlet,on the North Carolina coast, and I am going to run in there, dispersethis fleet, sell my goods, and--"
"Be hanged?" interpolated Greenway in surprise.
"Not a bit of it, you croaking crow!" roared the pirate. "Not a bit ofit. Don't you know, you dull-head, that our good King George has issueda proclamation to the Brethren of the Coast to come in and behavethemselves like honest citizens and receive their pardon? I have donethat once, and so I know all about it; but I backslid, showing that myconversion was badly done."
"It must hae been a poor hand that did the job for ye," said Greenway,"for truly the conversion washed off in the first rain."
The pirate laughed a great laugh. "The fact is," he said, "I did thework myself, and knowing nothing about it made a bad botch of it, butthis time it will be different. I am going to give the matter into yourhands, and I shall expect you to do it well. If I become not an honestgentleman this time you shall pay for it, first with your ears and thenwith your head."
"An' ye're goin' to keep me by ye?" said Greenway, with an expressionnot of the best.
"Truly so," said Blackbeard. "I shall make you my clerk as long as I ama pirate, for I have much writing and figuring work to be done, andafter that you shall be my chaplain. And whether or not your work willbe easier than it is now, it is not for me to say."
The Scotchman was about to make an exclamation which might not have beencomplimentary, but he restrained himself.
"An' Master Bonnet?" he asked. "If ye go out o' piracy he may go too,and take the oath."
"Of course he may," cried the pirate, "and of course he shall; I willsee to that myself. Then I will give him back his ship, for I don't wantit, and let him become an honest merchant."
"Give him back his ship!" exclaimed Greenway, his countenance downcast."That will be puttin' into his hands the means o' beginnin' again a lifeo' sin. I pray ye, don't do that."
Blackbeard leaned back and laughed. "I swear that I thought it would beone of the very first steps in conversion for me to give back to thefellow the ship which is his own and which I have taken from him. Butfear not, my noble pirate's clerk; he is not the man that I am; he is avile coward, and when he has taken the oath he will be afraid to breakit. Moreover--"
"And if, with that ship," said Greenway, his eyes beginning to sparkle,"he become an honest merchant--"
"I don't trust him," said Blackbeard; "he is a knave and a sharper, andthere is no truth in him. But when you have settled up my business, myclerk, and have gotten me well converted, I will send you away with him,and you shall take up again the responsibility of his soul."
The Scotchman clapped his horny hands together. "And once I get him backto Bridgetown, I will burn his cursed ship!"
"Heigho!" cried Blackbeard, "and that will be your way of convertinghim? You know your business, my royal chaplain, you know it well." Andwith that he gave Greenway a tremendous slap on the back which wouldhave dashed to the deck an ordinary man, but Ben Greenway was aScotchman, tough as a yew-tree.