Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-07-14
CHAPTER XXxIII.
THE TIDE DECIDES.

EssyS:S EaSsM T was now September,
cSEg1M and the weather was
beautiful on the North
Carolina coast Capt. Thomas (late
Bonnet) of the Royal James (late Re-
ycnge) had always enjoyed cool nights
and invigorating morning air, and,
therefore IL was that he said to his
faithful servitor, Ben Greenway, when
first he stepped out upon the deck as
his vessel lay comfortably anchored in
a little cove in the Cape Fear river,
that he did not remember ever having
been in a more pleasant harbor, This
well-tried pirate captain-Stede Bon
net. as we shah call him, notwith-
standing his assumption of another
name-was in a genial mood as he
drank in the morning air.
From his point of view he had right
to be genial; he had a right to be
pleased with the scenery and the air;
he had a right to swear at the Scotch
man, and to ask him why he did not
put on a merrier visage on such
sparf ling morning, for since he had
first started out as Capt. Thomas, OF
the Royal James, he had been a most
successful pirate. He had sailed up
the Virginia coast; he had burned, he
had sunk. he had robbed, he had slain;
he had gone up the Delaware bay, and
the people in ships and the people on
the coasts trembled even when they
heard that his black flag had been
sighted
No man could now say that the for
mer captain of the Revenge was not an
accomplished and seasoned desperate,
Even the great Blackboard would not
have cared to give him nicknames, nor
dared to play his blithesome tricks
upon him; he was now no more Capt.
Nightcap to any man. His crew OF
hairy ruffians had learned to under
stand that he knew what he wanted,
and. more than that, he knew how to
order il done. They listened to his
great oaths and they respected him
This powerful pirate now commanded
a small fleet, for in the cove where lay
his flagship also lay two good-sized
sloops. manned by their own crews
which he had captured in Delaware
hav and had brought down with him
to this quiet spot, few miles up the
Cape Fear river, where now he wal
repairing his own ship, which had haf
a hard time Of 1t since she had agair
come into his hands.
For many a long day the SOUND o
the hammer and the saw had mingled
with the song of the birds, and Capt
Bonnet fnlt that in a day or two N
might again sail out upon the sea, con
viewing his tao prizes to some con
yenient mart, while he, with his goo'
shin freshened and restored, would g
in search of more victories, more poolS
and more blood.
There we're grea prospects eelor
our nitrate captain. Fc"hlps he mlgh
have the grand good fortune to 1all i
v th that low-born devil, BlacNDear'
who. when last he had been near
from. commanded but small Vesse
fearing no attack upon this coas
What proud and glorious moment
would he when n broadside and
other and another should be poure
in upon his little craft from the lon
guns Of the Royal James
Bonnet was still standing, retlectini
with bright eyes, upon this dazzlin
future and wondering what would
the best way of letting the dastardl
Blac beard know whose guns tht
were which had sunk his ship, when
q boat was seen coming around the hea'
o land This was one of his own poat
which had been posted as sentine
: .,a which now brought the news tn
two vessels we're coming in at !,
mouth of the river. but that as u