lves
against a force which outnumbered them. They ran at top speed, bending
low, hidden from observation, avoiding the pools and bogs.

The pirates were diverted from their hostile intentions as soon as they
caught sight of the tall spars and tackle, and the boat with its
sounding rods and other gear. With a great clamor they swarmed out of
the pinnace and began to investigate. This gave the refugees on the
knoll a little time to make their camp more compact, to wield the
shovels furiously and throw up intrenchments, to cut down trees for a
barricade, to fill the water kegs, to prepare to withstand an assault or
a siege.

The sun went down and the infatuated pirates were still exploring the
creek, convinced that they could straightway lay hold of the treasure
they had come to find. They kindled a fire on the bank and evidently
intended to pass the night there. This mightily eased the minds of the
toilers upon the knoll. Their predicament was still awkward in the
extreme but the fear of sudden death had been lifted. And it seemed
possible that these bothersome pirates might conclude to leave them
alone.

It went sorely against the grain, however, to be driven away from the
precious sea-chest when it was almost within their grasp, to have to
scuttle from this crew of scurvy pirates. Jack Cockrell was for making a
sortie by night, gustily declaiming to his companions:

"The sentries will be drunk or drowsy. I know these swine. A well-timed
rush and we can cut 'em down and pistol the rest. Didn't they open fire
on us from the pinnace?"

"Aye, Jack, and we'll fight to save our skins," said the cool-headed
Captain Wellsby, "but 'tis a desperate business to attack yon
cut-throats, even by night, and there will be men of us hurt and killed.
Blackbeard's gold is not worth it."

"Right sensibly put," declared Mr. Peter Forbes. "We had best spend this
night in felling more trees and notching logs to pile them breast high.
If these pirates find the sea-chest, they will leave us unmolested. If
they fail to find it, they may conclude that we have already discovered
the treasure. In that event, they will storm the knoll and give us no
quarter."

"It would be rank folly to surrender," said stout Bill Saxby. "There be
men in the pinnace who have no love for me nor for the two lads. 'Twas a
shrewd suspicion of theirs that Blackbeard had played secret tricks in
this Cherokee swamp, what with his excursions in that little cock-boa