matter how much they might feast and
frolic on the booty they had obtained from Charles Town, Blackbeard
sailed back to his North Carolina haunts and took a long vacation,
during which time he managed to put himself on very good terms with the
Governor and officials of the country. He had plenty of money and was
willing to spend it, and so he was allowed to do pretty much as he
pleased, provided he kept his purse open and did not steal from his
neighbors.

But Blackbeard became tired of playing the part of a make-believe
respectable citizen, and having spent the greater part of his money, he
wanted to make some more. Consequently he fitted out a small vessel, and
declaring that he was going on a legitimate commercial cruise, he took
out regular papers for a port in the West Indies and sailed away, as if
he had been a mild-mannered New England mariner going to catch codfish.
The officials of the town of Bath, from which he sailed, came down to
the ship and shook hands with him and hoped he would have good success.

After a moderate absence he returned to Bath, bringing with him a large
French merchant vessel, with no people on board, but loaded with a
valuable cargo of sugar and other goods. This vessel he declared he had
found deserted at sea, and he therefore claimed it as a legitimate
prize. Knowing the character of this bloody pirate, and knowing how very
improbable it was that the captain and all the crew of a valuable
merchant vessel, with nothing whatever the matter with her, would go out
into their boats and row away, leaving their ship to become the
property of any one who might happen along, it may seem surprising that
the officials of Bath appeared to have no doubt of the truth of
Blackbeard's story, and allowed him freely to land the cargo on the
French ship and store it away as his own property.

But people who consort with pirates cannot be expected to have very
lively consciences, and although there must have been persons in the
town with intelligence enough to understand the story of pitiless murder
told by that empty vessel, whose very decks and masts must have been
regarded as silent witnesses that her captain and crew did not leave her
of their own free will, no one in the town interfered with the thrifty
Blackbeard or caused any public suspicion to fall upon the propriety of
his actions.

Chapter XXIII

A True-Hearted Sailor draws his Sword

Feeling now quite sure that he could do what