ate on
the head, and he read this monster of a pirate more shrewdly than I.
Yes, Blackbeard took it with rough good humor. But Jack would ne'er
consent to sail with him. 'Twas that confounded Stede Bonnet with his
gallant air that turned the lad's head. He cast a glamor over this trade
of murder and pillage."

"Be that as it may," returned Dorothy, with a sigh and a smile, "I
confess to a romantic admiration for this bold Captain Bonnet. He wears
an air of mystery which is most becoming. We must not blame poor Jack."

"No, no, I am done with all that," hastily exclaimed Uncle Peter. "All I
dare hope is that when Blackbeard is captured, we may learn what fate
befell the boy. It makes the torture worse to have him vanish without
trace."

"And yet I have faith the sea will give him back to us, Mr. Forbes. He
will find you a chastened guardian, not so apt to box his ears."

Uncle Peter was so distressed by this gentle raillery that the girl
begged pardon and vowed that she would never again offend. It so
happened that they were sitting together in Parson Throckmorton's garden
a day or so after this when a friend came running in with tidings the
most unexpected and incredible. A negro slave had come from a plantation
a few miles inland and he bore a letter written by none other than
Captain Jonathan Wellsby of the _Plymouth Adventure_. It narrated how he
and the survivors of his ship had journeyed that far after weeks of
suffering and frequent skirmishes with Indians. They were compelled to
rest and take shelter before undertaking the last stage of the journey.

Councilor Peter Forbes was magically changed. He shed his dignity and
threw his hat in air. Clasping Miss Dorothy's slender waist, he planted
a kiss on her damask cheek. Parson Throckmorton was ramming snuff into
his nostrils, his wig all awry, while he sneezed trumpet blasts of
rejoicing.

"Survivors? _Kerchooh!_ God bless me, that lusty stripling will be
amongst them,--_kerchooh_,--he can survive anything but Greek and
Latin,--_kerchooh_,--I will spare the rod in future."

"I told you so, Uncle Peter Forbes," laughed Dorothy.

"Not so fast," quoth he, in a mood suddenly sobered. "Captain Wellsby
includes no list of those in his party."

"But, of course, one of them is _sure_ to be Master Jack," she insisted.

"I am a selfish man and a laggard officer of the Crown," he exclaimed
with air of great self-reproach. "There are women in that company and
wounde