inform the Governor that if he did not immediately
send the medicines required, amounting in value to about three hundred
pounds, and if he did not allow the pirate crew of the boat to return in
safety, every one of the prisoners would be hanged from the yard-arm of
his ship.

The boat rowed away to the distant town, and Blackbeard waited two days
for its return, and then he grew very angry, for he believed that his
messengers had been taken into custody, and he came very near hanging
Mr. Wragg and all his companions. But before he began to satisfy his
vengeance, news came from the boat. It had been upset in the bay, and
had had great trouble in getting to Charles Town, but it had arrived
there at last. Blackbeard now waited a day or two longer; but as no news
came from Mr. Marks, he vowed he would not be trifled with by the
impudent people of Charles Town, and swore that every man, woman, and
child among the prisoners should immediately prepare to be hanged.

Of course the unfortunate prisoners in the pirate ship were in a
terrible state of mind during the absence of Mr. Marks. They knew very
well that they could expect no mercy from Blackbeard if the errand
should be unsuccessful, and they also knew that the Charles Town people
would not be likely to submit to such an outrageous demand upon them; so
they trembled and quaked by day and by night, and when at last they were
told to get ready to be hanged, every particle of courage left them, and
they proposed to Blackbeard that if he would spare their lives, and that
if it should turn out that their fellow-citizens had decided to
sacrifice them for the sake of a few paltry drugs, they would take up
the cause of the pirates; they would show Blackbeard the best way to
sail into the harbor, and they would join with him and his men in
attacking the city and punishing the inhabitants for their hard-hearted
treatment of their unfortunate fellow-citizens.

This proposition pleased Blackbeard immensely; it would have been like a
new game to take Mr. Wragg to the town and make him fight his
fellow-members of the Council of the Province, and so he rescinded his
order for a general execution, and bade his prisoners prepare to join
with his pirates when he should give the word for an assault upon their
city.

In the meantime there was a terrible stir in Charles Town. When the
Governor and citizens received the insolent and brutal message of
Blackbeard they were filled with rage