oked him up and down with a
roguish grin. Under his cloak Jeremy had on fringed leather breeches and
tunic such as most of the northern colonists wore. The pirate, seeing
the rough moccasins and deerskin trousers, burst into a roar. "Ho, ho,
young woodcock, and how do ye like the company of Major Stede Bonnet's
rovers?"

[Illustration: "Ho, ho, young woodcock, and how do ye like the company
of Stede Bonnet's rovers?"]

The lad said nothing, shut his jaw hard and looked the big buccaneer
squarely in the face. There was no fear in his expression. The man
nodded and chuckled approvingly. "That's pluck, boy, that's pluck," said
he. "We'll clip the young cock's shank-feathers, and maybe make a
pirate of him yet." He stooped over to feel the buckskin fringe on
Jeremy's leg. The boy's hand went into his shirt like a flash. He had
pulled out the pistol and cocked it, when he felt both legs snatched
from under him.

His head hit the ground hard and he lay dazed for a second or two. When
he regained his senses, Job Howland stood astride of him coolly tucking
the pistol into his own waist-band. "Ay," said Job, "ye'll be a fine
buccaneer, only ye should have struck with the butt. I heard the click."
The pirate seemed to hold no grudge for what had occurred and sat down
beside Jeremy in a friendly fashion.

"Free tradin' ain't what it was," he confided. "When Billy Kidd cleared
for the southern seas twenty years agone, they say he had papers from
the king himself, and no man-of-war dared come anigh him." He swore
gently and reminiscently as he went on to detail the recent severities
of the Massachusetts government and the insecurity of buccaneers about
the Virginia capes. "They do say, tho', as Cap'n Edward Teach, that they
call Blackbeard, is plumb thick with all the magistrates and planters in
Carolina, an' sails the seas as safe as if he had a fleet of twenty
ships," said Job. "We sailed along with him for a spell last year, but
him an' the old man couldn't make shift to agree. Ye see this
Blackbeard is so used to havin' his own way he wanted to run Stede
Bonnet, too. That made Stede boilin', but we was undermanned just then
and had to bide our time to cut loose.

"Cap'n Bonnet, ye see, is short on seamanship but long in his sword arm.
Don't ye never anger him. He's terrible to watch when he's raised. Dave
Herriot sails the ship mostly, but when we sight a big merchantman with
maybe a long nine or two aboard, then's when St