enjoyed before. A man who was chafing and fuming for a chance
of a hand-to-hand conflict with the greatest pirate of the day must be a
pretty good sort of a fellow from their point of view. Moreover, their
strutting and stalking captain, so recently balked of his dark revenge,
was a very savage-looking man, and it would not be pleasant either to
try to persuade him to give up his piratical intention, or to decline to
join him in carrying it out; so the whole of the crew, minor officers
and men, changed their minds about going to St. Thomas, and agreed to
hoist the skull and cross-bones, and to follow Captain Bonnet wherever
he might lead.

Bonnet now cruised about in grand style and took some prizes on the
Virginia coast, and then went up into Delaware Bay, where he captured
such ships as he wanted, and acted generally in the most domineering and
insolent fashion. Once, when he stopped near the town of Lewes, in order
to send some prisoners ashore, he sent a message to the officers of the
town to the effect that if they interfered with his men when they came
ashore, he would open fire upon the town with his cannon, and blow every
house into splinters. Of course the citizens, having no way of defending
themselves, were obliged to allow the pirates to come on shore and
depart unmolested.

Then after this the blustering captain captured two valuable sloops, and
wishing to take them along with him without the trouble of transferring
their cargoes to his own vessel, he left their crews on board, and
ordered them to follow him wherever he went. Some days after that, when
one of the vessels seemed to be sailing at too great a distance, Bonnet
quickly let her captain know that he was not a man to be trifled with,
and sent him the message that if he did not keep close to the _Royal
James_, he would fire into him and sink him to the bottom.

After a time Bonnet put into a North Carolina port in order to repair
the _Royal James_, which was becoming very leaky, and seeing no
immediate legitimate way of getting planks and beams enough with which
to make the necessary repairs, he captured a small sloop belonging in
the neighborhood, and broke it up in order to get the material he needed
to make his own vessel seaworthy.

Now the people of the North Carolina coast very seldom interfered with
pirates, as we have seen, and it is likely that Bonnet might have
stayed in port as long as he pleased, and repaired and refitted his
vessel