t least that island which was the abode of an angel, and
anchored off Charles Town harbour, South Carolina, Dickory fumed and
talked impatiently to his friend Ben Greenway. Why a man, even though he
were a pirate, and therefore of an avaricious nature, should want more
booty, when his vessel was already crowded with valuable goods, he could
not imagine.

But Ben Greenway could very easily imagine. "When the spirit o' sin is
upon ye," said the Scotchman, "the more an' more wicked ye're likely to
be; an' ye must no' forget, Dickory, that every new crime he commits,
an' a' the property he steals, an' a' the unfortunate people he maroons,
will hae to be answered for by ye, Dickory, when the time comes for ye
to stand up an' say what ye hae got to say about your ain sins. If ye
had stood by me an' helped to cut him short in his nefarious career, he
might now be beginnin' a new life in some small coastin' vessel bound
for Barbadoes."

Dickory gave an impatient kick at the mast near which he was standing.
"It would have been more likely," said he, "that before this he would
have begun a new life on the gallows with you and me alongside of him,
and how do you suppose you would have got rid of the sin on your soul
when you thought of his orphan daughter in Jamaica?"

"Your thoughts are too much on that daughter," snapped Greenway, "an'
no' enough on her father's soul."

"I am tired of her father's soul," said Dickory. "I wonder what new
piece of mischief they are going to do here; there are no ships to be
robbed?"

Dickory did not know very much, or care very much about the sea and its
commerce, and some ships to be robbed soon made their appearance. One
was a large merchantman, with a full cargo, and the other was a bark,
northward bound, in ballast. The acquisition of the latter vessel put a
new idea into Captain Bonnet's head. The Revenge was already overloaded,
and he determined to take the bark as a tender to relieve him of a
portion of his cargo and to make herself useful in the business of
marooning and such troublesome duties.

Being now commander of two vessels, which might in time increase to a
little fleet, Captain Bonnet's ideas of his own importance as a terror
of the sea increased rapidly. On the Revenge he was more despotic and
severe than ever before, while the villain who had been chosen to
command the tender, because he had a fair knowledge of navigation, was
informed that if he kept the bark more than a