y a
word.

"Don't be afraid," cried Bonnet. "If you have any religious scruples, I
will tell you that this gold I did not get by piracy. It is part of my
private fortune, and came as honestly to me as I now give it to you."

But Dickory did not reach out his hand.

Now up spoke Ben Greenway: "Look ye, boy," said he, "as long as there's
a chance left o' gettin' honest gold on board this vessel, I pray ye,
seize it, an' if ye're afraid o' this gold, thinkin' it may be smeared
wi' the blood o' fathers an' the tears o' mithers, I'll tell ye ane
thing, an' that is, that Master Bonnet hasna got to be so much o' a
pirate that he willna tell the truth. So I'll tak' the money for ye,
Dickory, an' I'll keep it till ye're ready to tak' it to your mither;
an' I hope that will be soon."

CHAPTER XIII

CAPTAIN BONNET GOES TO CHURCH

The pirate vessel Revenge was now bound to the coast of the Carolinas
and Virginia, and perhaps even farther north, if her wicked fortune
should favour her. The growing commerce of the colonies offered great
prizes in those days to the piratical cruisers which swarmed up and down
the Atlantic coast. To lie over for a time off the coast of Charles Town
was Captain Bonnet's immediate object, and to get there as soon as
possible was almost a necessity.

The crew of desperate scoundrels whom he had gathered together had
discovered that their captain knew nothing of navigation or the
management of a ship, and there were many of them who believed that if
Black Paul had chosen to turn the vessel's bows to the coast of South
America, Bonnet would not have known that they were not sailing
northward. Thus they had lost all respect for him, and their conduct was
kept within bounds only by the cruel punishments which he inflicted for
disobedience or general bad conduct, and which were rendered possible by
the dissensions and bad feelings among the men themselves; one clique or
faction being always ready to help punish another. Consequently, the
landsman pirate would speedily have been tossed overboard and the
command given to another, had it not been that the men were not at all
united in their opinions as to who that other should be.

There was also another very good reason for Bonnet's continuance in
authority; he was a good divider, and, so far, had been a good provider.
If he should continue to take prizes, and to give each man under him his
fair share of the plunder, the men were likely to stan