ught it no part of mine to reason,
and I ran up the black flag with my own hand.

Ballantrae steps presently aft with a smile upon his face.

"You may perhaps like to know, you drunken dog," says he, "that you are
chasing a King's ship."

Teach roared him the lie; but he ran at the same time to the bulwarks,
and so did they all. I have never seen so many drunken men struck
suddenly sober. The cruiser had gone about, upon our impudent display of
colours; she was just then filling on the new tack; her ensign blew out
quite plain to see; and even as we stared, there came a puff of smoke,
and then a report, and a shot plunged in the waves a good way short of
us. Some ran to the ropes, and got the _Sarah_ round with an incredible
swiftness. One fellow fell on the rum-barrel, which stood broached upon
the deck, and rolled it promptly overboard. On my part, I made for the
Jolly Roger, struck it, tossed it in the sea; and could have flung
myself after, so vexed was I with our mismanagement. As for Teach, he
grew as pale as death, and incontinently went down to his cabin. Only
twice he came on deck that afternoon; went to the taffrail; took a long
look at the King's ship, which was still on the horizon heading after
us; and then, without speech, back to his cabin. You may say he deserted
us; and if it had not been for one very capable sailor we had on board,
and for the lightness of the airs that blew all day, we must certainly
have gone to the yard-arm.

It is to be supposed Teach was humiliated, and perhaps alarmed for his
position with the crew; and the way in which he set about regaining what
he had lost was highly characteristic of the man. Early next day we
smelled him burning sulphur in his cabin and crying out of "Hell, hell!"
which was well understood among the crew, and filled their minds with
apprehension. Presently he comes on deck, a perfect figure of fun, his
face blacked, his hair and whiskers curled, his belt stuck full of
pistols; chewing bits of glass so that the blood ran down his chin, and
brandishing a dirk. I do not know if he had taken these manners from the
Indians of America, where he was a native; but such was his way, and he
would always thus announce that he was wound up to horrid deeds. The
first that came near him was the fellow who had sent the rum overboard
the day before; him he stabbed to the heart, damning him for a mutineer;
and then capered about the body, raving and swearing and daring us