t it was time for him to take one of his vacations, he
put into an inlet in North Carolina, where he disbanded his crew. So
long as he was on shore spending his money and having a good time, he
did not want to have a lot of men about him who would look to him to
support them when they had spent their portion of the spoils. Having no
further use for Bonnet, he dismissed him also, and did not object to his
resuming possession of his own vessel. If the green pirate chose to go
to sea again and perhaps drown himself and his crew, it was a matter of
no concern to Blackbeard.

But this was a matter of very great concern to Stede Bonnet, and he
proceeded to prove that there were certain branches of the piratical
business in which he was an adept, and second to none of his
fellow-practitioners. He wished to go pirating again, and saw a way of
doing this which he thought would be far superior to any of the common
methods. It was about this time that King George of England, very
desirous of breaking up piracy, issued a proclamation in which he
promised pardon to any pirate who would appear before the proper
authorities, renounce his evil practices, and take an oath of
allegiance. It also happened that very soon after this proclamation had
been issued, England went to war with Spain. Being a man who kept
himself posted in the news of the world, so far as it was possible,
Bonnet saw in the present state of affairs a very good chance for him to
play the part of a wolf in sheep's clothing, and he proceeded to begin
his new piratical career by renouncing piracy. So leaving the _Revenge_
in the inlet, he journeyed overland to Bath; there he signed pledges,
took oaths, and did everything that was necessary to change himself from
a pirate captain to a respectable commander of a duly authorized British
privateer. Returning to his vessel with all the papers in his pocket
necessary to prove that he was a loyal and law-abiding subject of Great
Britain, he took out regular clearance papers for St. Thomas, which was
a British naval station, and where he declared he was going in order to
obtain a commission as a privateer.

Now the wily Bonnet had everything he wanted except a crew. Of course it
would not do for him, in his present respectable capacity, to go about
enlisting unemployed pirates, but at this point fortune again favored
him; he knew of a desert island not very far away where Blackbeard, at
the end of his last cruise, had marooned