Cockrell knew he
ought to be posting home to dinner but he was tempted to accept Stede
Bonnet's cordial bidding. Boyish friends of his hovered near and
regarded him as a hero. No pirate captain had ever deigned to notice
them.

Alas for Jack and his puffed-up pride which was doomed to a sudden fall!
There advanced from a better quarter of the town a florid, foppishly
dressed gentleman of middle age who walked with a pompous gait. He was
stout-bodied and the heat of the day oppressed him. Mopping his face
with a lace handkerchief or fanning himself with his hat, he halted now
and then in a shady spot. Very mindful of his rank and dignity was Mr.
Peter Arbuthnot Forbes, sometime London barrister, at present Secretary
to the Council of the Province.

He differed from some of his neighbors in that he abominated pirates and
would have given them short shift. A trifle near-sighted, he was quite
close to the tavern before he espied his own nephew and ward, Jack
Cockrell, in this shameful company of roisterers. The august uncle
blinked, opened his mouth, and turned as red as a lobster. Indignation
choked his speech. For his part, Jack stood dumfounded and quaking, the
picture of a coward with a guilty conscience. He would have tried to
steal from sight but it was too late.

Captain Stede Bonnet enjoyed the tableau and several of his wicked
sailors were mimicking the pompous strut of Mr. Peter Arbuthnot Forbes.
Poor Jack mumbled some explanation but his irate uncle first paid his
respects to Captain Bonnet.

"Shame to you, sirrah," he cried in a voice that shook with passion. "A
man of good birth, by all accounts, who has fallen so low as to lead
these vile gallows-birds! And you would entice this lad of mine to
follow your dirty trade?"

Captain Bonnet doffed the great beaver hat and bowed low in mocking
courtesy. He perceived that this fussy lawyer was not wholly a popinjay,
for it required courage to insult a pirate to his face. The reply was
therefore milder than expected.

"Mayhap I am painted blacker than the fact, Councilor. As for this fine
stripling who has so disgraced himself, the fault is mine. He risked his
life to save a maid from harm. The deed won my affection."

"The maids of Charles Town would need to fear no harm if more pirates
were hanged, Captain Bonnet," roundly declared Mr. Forbes, shaking his
gold-tipped cane at the freebooter.

"'Tis fortunate for me that you lack the power, my fat and petulan