it?"

"To make terms, Master Rackham. If us twenty men consent to serve
you----"

"You babble of terms?" was the biting interruption. "I can leave you to
perish on the sand, as ye no doubt deserve, or I can carry you in with
me, when I report to Captain Teach."

"But there's another choice, which hasn't escaped you," persisted the
intrepid carpenter's mate. "Enlist us in your service and you'll have
nigh on forty men. This snow mounts a few old swivels and you must ha'
found muskets in her. With forty men, Master Rackham, there's no
occasion to bow to Blackbeard's whimsies. You can h'ist the Jolly Roger
for yourself and lay 'longside a bigger ship to take and cruise in. I've
heard tell of a great buccaneer that started for himself in a pinnace
and captured a galleon as tall as a church."

Ned Rackham's eyes flashed. Indeed, this was what he had in mind. This
score of recruits would make the venture worth undertaking. Men were
essential. Given enough of them to handle the snow and a boarding party
besides, and he would not hesitate to shift helm and bear away to sea
again.

"You will sign articles, then?" he demanded.

"Aye, I can speak for all, Master Rackham. What else is there for us?
Hold fast, I would except one man. He must be granted safe conduct, on
your sacred honor."

"His name, Tobey?"

"That matters not. Pledge me first. He has no more stomach for piracy
and will be set ashore at some port."

"A pig in a poke?" cried Rackham, with an ugly smile. "If I refuse,
what?"

"You will have sulky men that may turn against you some day."

"And I can leave you to rot where you are, with your nonsense of 'making
terms,'" was the harsh rejoinder.

"But you won't do that," argued Peter Tobey. "Your own fortune hangs on
enlisting us twenty lads. You bear Blackbeard no more love than we do."

Ned Rackham was making no great headway with this stubborn carpenter's
mate who was playing strong cards of his own.

"A drawn bout, Tobey," said he, with a change of front. "No more backing
and filling. You ask a small favor. Fetch your man along, whoever he may
be. He shall be done no harm by me."

"Even though he made a mortal enemy of you, Master Rackham?"

"Enough, Peter. I have many enemies and scores to settle. You have my
assurance but I demand the lad's name."

"Not without his permission," declared Tobey. "Set me ashore and I will
confer with him."

Grudgingly Rackham consented, unwilling to have a hitc