e a rich widdy then, won't she?" cried one of the men;
and there was a burst of laughter.

"Why," said the New York captain,--"why, has a--a bloody p-pirate like
you a wife then--a--like any honest man?"

"She'll be no richer than she is now," said Blackbeard.

"She knows where you've hid your money, anyways. Don't she, Captain?"
called out a voice.

"The divil knows where I've hid my money," said Blackbeard, "and I
know where I've hid it; and the longest liver of the twain will git it
all. And that's all there is of it."

The gray of early day was beginning to show in the east when
Blackbeard and the New York captain came down to the landing together.
The New York captain swayed and toppled this way and that as he
walked, now falling against Blackbeard, and now staggering away from
him.

II

Early in the morning--perhaps eight o'clock--Lieutenant Maynard sent a
boat from the schooner over to the settlement, which lay some four or
five miles distant. A number of men stood lounging on the landing,
watching the approach of the boat. The men rowed close up to the
wharf, and there lay upon their oars, while the boatswain of the
schooner, who was in command of the boat, stood up and asked if there
was any man there who could pilot them over the shoals.

Nobody answered, but all stared stupidly at him. After a while one of
the men at last took his pipe out of his mouth. "There ben't any pilot
here, master," said he; "we ben't pilots."

"Why, what a story you do tell!" roared the boatswain. "D'ye suppose
I've never been down here before, not to know that every man about
here knows the passes of the shoals?"

The fellow still held his pipe in his hand. He looked at another one
of the men. "Do you know the passes in over the shoals, Jem?" said he.

The man to whom he spoke was a young fellow with long, shaggy,
sunburnt hair hanging over his eyes in an unkempt mass. He shook his
head, grunting, "Na--I don't know naught about t' shoals."

"'Tis Lieutenant Maynard of His Majesty's navy in command of them
vessels out there," said the boatswain. "He'll give any man five pound
to pilot him in." The men on the wharf looked at one another, but
still no one spoke, and the boatswain stood looking at them. He saw
that they did not choose to answer him. "Why," he said, "I believe
you've not got right wits--that's what I believe is the matter with
you. Pull me up to the landing, men, and I'll go ashore and see if I
can find