e should share the fate of
Blackbeard. Jack Cockrell had no fear that his Uncle Peter would be a
tale-bearer. His private honor would forbid because this interview with
the two lads was a privileged communication. What made Jack a trifle
anxious was the presence of the gaol keeper in the corridor. He was a
sneaking sort of man, soft of tread and oily of speech and inclined to
curry favor with those in authority.

Councilor Peter Forbes had tactfully withdrawn this person beyond
earshot but he began to edge toward the cell. Old Trimble Rogers tried
to heed Joe's cautionary signal but what he meant to be a whisper was a
hoarse rumble as he explained:

"Cap'n Bonnet sends word he will be off this coast again in thirty days.
He will come ashore hisself, to Sullivan's Island to get the answer,
whether you are to go with us, Master Cockrell, to Cherokee Inlet."

Jack glanced at the gaol keeper but he was a dozen feet away and deep in
talk with Mr. Forbes. There was no sign that this confidence had been
overheard. Bill Saxby scolded the buccaneer for his careless speech but
the old man had been a freebooter too long to be easily tamed. With
artful design, Jack led him away from this dangerous ground and
suggested:

"You are done with pirating? And will you both be ready to stay ashore
in Charles Town after this,--this certain errand is accomplished?"

"I swear it gladly and on my own Bible," answered Trimble Rogers.

"Swear it for me," said Bill Saxby.

Mr. Forbes interrupted and told the lads to go home and await his
conference with Governor Johnson. It proved to be a session somewhat
stormy but the upshot was a pardon conditioned on good behavior. The
convincing argument was that these men had been faithful to Master
Cockrell through thick and thin and had saved him from perishing in the
Cherokee swamp. Moreover, it might be an inducement to others of Stede
Bonnet's crew to surrender themselves and forsake their evil ways.

No sooner were these two pirates released from gaol than they found an
active friend in Mr. Peter Forbes. He went about it quietly, for obvious
reasons, but he felt under great obligation to them for their goodness
to his nephew. Just at this time one of the shop-keepers became a
bankrupt because of unthrifty habits and too much card-playing. Through
an agent, Peter Forbes purchased the stock of muslins and calicos, of
brocades and taffetas, calash bonnets, satin petticoats, shoe-buckles,
laces,