shoulder bleeding, but entirely forgotten.

There was no fighting now upon the deck of the Revenge; the conflict
raged, but it had been transferred to the Badger. The sailors of the
man-of-war had fought valiantly and stoutly, even impetuously, but their
enemies--picked men from two pirate crews--had fought like wire-muscled
devils. Ablaze with fury they had cut down the Badger's men, piling them
upon their own fallen comrades; they had followed the brave fellows with
oaths, cutlasses, and pistols as, little at a time and fighting all the
while, they slowly clambered back into their own ship. The pirates had
thrown their grapnels over the bulwarks of the man-of-war; they had
followed, cut by cut, shot by shot, until they now stood upon the
Badger, fighting with the same fury that they had just fought upon the
blood-soaked Revenge. Blackbeard was not yet with them--whatever
happened, Blackbeard must be refreshed--but now he sprang into the
enemy's ship--that fine British man-of-war, the corvette Badger, which
had so bravely sailed down upon his ship to capture her--and led the
carnage.

They were tough men, those British seamen, tough in heart, tough in
arms and body; they fought above decks and they fought below, and they
laid many a pirate scoundrel dead; but they had met a foe which was too
strong for them--a pack of brawny, hairy desperadoes, picked from two
pirate crews. The first officer now commanding, panting, bleeding, and
torn, groaned as he saw that his men could fight no longer, and he
surrendered the Badger to the pirates.

The great Blackbeard yelled with delight. When had any other captain
sailing under the Jolly Roger captured a British man-of-war, a
first-class corvette of the royal navy? His frenzied joy was so intense
that he was on the point of cutting down the officer who was offering
him his sword, but he withheld his hand.

"Go, somebody, and fetch me a glass of his Majesty's rum," he cried,
"and I will drink to his perdition!"

The door of a locker was smashed, the spirits were brought, and the
great Blackbeard was again refreshed.

Standing on the quarter-deck where but an hour or two before Captain
Christopher Vince had stood commanding his fine corvette as she sailed
down upon her pirate enemy, Blackbeard had brought before him all the
survivors of the Badger's crew.

"Well, you're a lot of damnable knaves," said he, "and you have cost me
many a good man this day. But my crew will now b