above the
rail, six cannon roared a welcome and Bonnet stepped forward, hand
extended and hat uplifted.

The instant Blackbeard's feet touched the deck he drew from their
holsters a pair of pistols and fired them in the air.

"Now then," he shouted, "we are even, salute for salute, for my pistols
are more than equal to the cannon of any other man. How goes it with
you, Sir Nightcap--Bonnet, I mean?" And with that he clasped the hand
reached out to him in a bone-crushing grasp.

His fingers aching and his brain astonished, Bonnet could not comprehend
what sort of a man it was who stood before him. With hair purposely
dishevelled; with his hat more slouched than usual; with his beard
divided into tails, each tied with a different-coloured ribbon; with
half a dozen pistols strung across his breast; with other pistols and a
knife or two stuck into his belt; with his great sword by his side, and
his eyes gleaming brighter than ever and a general expression, both in
face and figure, of an aggressive impudence, Blackbeard stood on his
stout legs, clothed in rough red stockings, and gazed about him. But the
captain of the Revenge did not forget his manners. He welcomed
Blackbeard with all courtesy and besought him to enter his poor cabin.

Blackbeard laughed. "Poor cabin, say you? But I'll tell you this one
thing, my valiant Captain Cap; you have not a poor vessel, not a poor
vessel, I swear that to you, my brave captain, I swear that!"

Then, with no attention to Bonnet's invitation, Captain Blackbeard
strolled about the deck, examining everything, cursing this and praising
that, and followed by Captain Bonnet, Black Paul, and a crowd of
admiring pirates.

Ben Greenway bowed his head and groaned. "I doubt if Master Bonnet will
ever go to the de'il as I feared he would, for now has the de'il come to
him. Oh, Dickory, Dickory! this master o' mine was a worthy mon an' a
good ane when I first came to him, an' a' that I hae I owe to him, for I
was in sad case, Dickory, very sad case; but now that he has Apollyon
for his teacher, he'll cease to know righteousness altogither."

Dickory was angry and out of spirits. "He is a vile poltroon, this
master of yours," said he, "consorting with these bloody pirates and
leaving his daughter to pine away her days and nights within a little
sail of him, while he struts about at the heel of a dirty freebooter
dressed like a monkey! He doesn't deserve the daughter he possesses. Oh,
that