uch writing and figuring work to be done, and
after that you shall be my chaplain. And whether or not your work will
be easier than it is now, it is not for me to say."

The Scotchman was about to make an exclamation which might not have been
complimentary, but he restrained himself.

"An' Master Bonnet?" he asked. "If ye go out o' piracy he may go too,
and take the oath."

"Of course he may," cried the pirate, "and of course he shall; I will
see to that myself. Then I will give him back his ship, for I don't want
it, and let him become an honest merchant."

"Give him back his ship!" exclaimed Greenway, his countenance downcast.
"That will be puttin' into his hands the means o' beginnin' again a life
o' sin. I pray ye, don't do that."

Blackbeard leaned back and laughed. "I swear that I thought it would be
one of the very first steps in conversion for me to give back to the
fellow the ship which is his own and which I have taken from him. But
fear not, my noble pirate's clerk; he is not the man that I am; he is a
vile coward, and when he has taken the oath he will be afraid to break
it. Moreover--"

"And if, with that ship," said Greenway, his eyes beginning to sparkle,
"he become an honest merchant--"

"I don't trust him," said Blackbeard; "he is a knave and a sharper, and
there is no truth in him. But when you have settled up my business, my
clerk, and have gotten me well converted, I will send you away with him,
and you shall take up again the responsibility of his soul."

The Scotchman clapped his horny hands together. "And once I get him back
to Bridgetown, I will burn his cursed ship!"

"Heigho!" cried Blackbeard, "and that will be your way of converting
him? You know your business, my royal chaplain, you know it well." And
with that he gave Greenway a tremendous slap on the back which would
have dashed to the deck an ordinary man, but Ben Greenway was a
Scotchman, tough as a yew-tree.

CHAPTER XXXIV

CAPTAIN THOMAS OF THE ROYAL JAMES

When Blackbeard's little fleet anchored in Topsail Inlet, Stede Bonnet,
who had not been informed of the intentions of the pirate, was a good
deal puzzled. Since joining Blackbeard's fleet in the vessel which came
up from Belize, Bonnet had considered himself very shabbily treated, and
his reasons for that opinion were not bad. During the engagements off
Charles Town his services had not been required and his opinion had not
been consulted, Blackbeard having n