and tugged at it. The men ducked and scrambled away
from before him, and then the next moment he had the pistol out of
his pocket. He swung it around and around. There was perfect silence.
Suddenly there was a flash and a stunning report, and instantly a crash
and tinkle of broken glass. One of the men cried out, and began picking
and jerking at the back of his neck. "He's broken that bottle all down
my neck," he called out.

"That's the way 'twill be," said Blackbeard.

"Lookee," said the owner of the place, "I won't serve out another drop
if 'tis going to be like that. If there's any more trouble I'll blow out
the lantern."

The sound of the squeaking and scraping of the fiddle and the shouts and
the scuffling feet still came from the shed where the dancing was going
on.

"Suppose you get your dose to-morrow, Captain," some one called out,
"what then?"

"Why, if I do," said Blackbeard, "I get it, and that's all there is of
it."

"Your wife'll be a rich widdy then, won't she?" cried one of the men;
and there was a burst of laughter.

"Why," said the New York captain,--"why, has a--a bloody p-pirate like
you a wife then--a--like any honest man?"

"She'll be no richer than she is now," said Blackbeard.

"She knows where you've hid your money, anyways. Don't she, Captain?"
called out a voice.

"The civil knows where I've hid my money," said Blackbeard, "and I know
where I've hid it; and the longest liver of the twain will git it all.
And that's all there is of it."

The gray of early day was beginning to show in the east when Blackbeard
and the New York captain came down to the landing together. The New York
captain swayed and toppled this way and that as he walked, now falling
against Blackbeard, and now staggering away from him.

II

Early in the morning--perhaps eight o'clock--Lieutenant Maynard sent a
boat from the schooner over to the settlement, which lay some four
or five miles distant. A number of men stood lounging on the landing,
watching the approach of the boat. The men rowed close up to the wharf,
and there lay upon their oars, while the boatswain of the schooner,
who was in command of the boat, stood up and asked if there was any man
there who could pilot them over the shoals.

Nobody answered, but all stared stupidly at him. After a while one of
the men at last took his pipe out of his mouth. "There ben't any pilot
here, master," said he; "we ben't pilots."

"Why, what a story you do