Nick took from an inner pocket the paper Blackbeard had given him. "One
of you take this message to Governor Robert Johnson. It comes from
Captain Teach, sometimes known as Captain Blackbeard. He entertains
certain merchants of your town on board his ship, Mr. Samuel Wragg and
others. And should any of you harm me or my mates while we wait for the
governor's answer Captain Teach will feel obliged, much to his regret,
to do the same to your worthy townsmen on his ship."
There were murmurs and exclamations from the crowd, and whispers of
"It's Blackbeard!" "It's the pirates!" and the like.
As no one stepped forward Nick now pointed to a man in a blue coat who
stood fronting him. "Take this message," he said, and spoke so
commandingly that the man stepped forward and took it. Then he beckoned
a boy to him and gave him Antony's note. "For Mr. Jonas Evans," he said.
"Make sure he gets it." After that he sat down on a bale of cotton,
pulled out a pipe, filled it with tobacco, and lighted it. The other
pirate did the same. The bright sun shone on the brace of pistols each
man wore in his belt.
The man in the blue coat hurried to Governor Johnson with the message
from the pirate chief. The governor read the message, demanding certain
drugs at once, on pain of Samuel Wragg and the other merchants of
Charles Town losing their heads. The governor sent for the Council and
read the message to them. They would all have liked to tear the message
to shreds and go out at once to capture this insolent sea-robber, but
there was danger that if they tried to do that their worthy
fellow-citizens would instantly lose their heads.
Meantime the news had spread through the town, and there was the
greatest excitement. The people longed to get their hands on Blackbeard
and pay him for this insult. But they dared not stir now; they dared not
even lay finger on the two insolent rascals who sat on the bales of
cotton on the water-front, smiling at the crowd. The families and
friends of Samuel Wragg and the other prisoners, all of whom were named
in Blackbeard's message to the governor, hurried to the house where the
Council was meeting, and demanded that the drugs should be sent out to
Blackbeard at once.
The governor and Council argued the matter up and down. They hated to
yield to such a command, and yet it would be monstrous to sacrifice
their friends for a few drugs. Then Governor Johnson made his decision.
He reminded them that he had time and again urged the Proprietors and
the Board of Trade to send out a frigate to protect the commerce of
Charles Town from just such perils as this; and added that it was his
duty to protect the lives of all the citizens. He would send the drugs,
and then the Council must see to it that such a situation shouldn't
occur again.
All the medicines on Blackbeard's list were carried down to the float
and put on board the long-boat under Nicholas Carter's supervision. "I
thank you all in the name of Captain Teach," Nick said, smiling and
bowing in his best manner. Among the crowd on shore Antony had caught
the faces of his father and mother, and waved to them, and called out
that he would soon be back.
The long-boat left the shore amid angry mutterings from the people. The
tide was low now, and presently Antony, by mischance, mistook the course
of the channel, and ran the boat aground. He showed so plainly, however,
that he hadn't meant to do it, that Nick forgave him, and said he
wouldn't throw him overboard. It took some time for the crew to get the
boat afloat again, and when they finally reached the ship they found
Blackbeard in a terrible rage at the delay and almost on the point of
beheading Mr. Wragg and the other prisoners.
The sight of the drugs calmed his anger somewhat, and he ordered his
captives brought out on deck. There he had them searched, and took
everything of value they had with them, among other things a large
amount of gold from Mr. Wragg. Some of their clothes he took also, so
that it was hard to say whether the poor merchants were shivering more
from fright or from cold. Then he had them rowed in the long-boat to a
neighboring point of land, where they were left to make their way home
as best they could.
Antony had asked Nick if he couldn't be set on shore with the others,
but Nick, drawing him away from the rest of the crew, had whispered,
"Stay with me a day or two more. I'm going to leave the ship myself.
I'm tired of this way of living, and I'd like to have a friend to speak
a good word for me when I land. I'll see no harm comes to you, boy. I
got that note to your father, and--one good turn deserves another. We'll
leave old Blackbeard soon."
Antony liked the dark man. "All right," said he. "I think we can get
into Charles Town without any one knowing who you are. I'll look out for
you."
"Much obliged to you, Tony," said Nick, with a grin.
So when the pirate ship sailed out to sea again, Antony was still on
board her.