Jonas Evans was as good as his word, and when Antony went to work in the
warehouse Nick was given a place there too. The dark-haired man had some
pieces of silver in his pocket, and he bought himself quiet-colored
clothes and a broad-brimmed hat, so that he looked very much like other
men in the town; but his black eyes would shine and his clean-shaven
lips curl in amusement as they had done when Antony first rowed his boat
almost into his arms. However, the people of Charles Town were
accustomed to having all sorts of men settle among them, as Peter Duval
had said, and they made no inquiries as to what a man had done before he
arrived there, but only considered how he behaved now, and so they took
it for granted that Nicholas Carter was quite respectable enough, and
didn't trouble themselves about his past. And who would be likely to
think that the man with the long black hair and mustache who had landed
from Blackbeard's small-boat and insolently ordered the governor to
furnish him with drugs was the same man as this young fellow, who was
polite and friendly with every one?
The room in the warehouse where Antony and Nick worked had a window that
looked out across the water, and often the boy saw his friend gazing at
the dancing waves with longing eyes. But when Nick would catch Antony
looking at him he would grin and shake his head, and then try to appear
very much absorbed in the job he had on hand. At such times the boy, who
had only tasted that free life of sea and shore for a few days, could
appreciate the feelings of the man who had known that life for years.
Meantime Charles Town had been very busy dealing with the pirates it had
captured. There was no jail in the town, so most of the crew of the
_Royal James_ had been locked up in the watch house, while their leader,
Stede Bonnet, and two of his men had been given in charge of the marshal
to keep under close guard in his own house. After some time the crew
were put on trial before Chief Justice Trott, and the attorney-general
read to the court and jury a list of thirty-eight ships that Bonnet and
Teach had captured in the last six months. The prisoners had no lawyers
to defend them, but two very able lawyers to attack them, and the Chief
Justice and the other judges, as well as the jury, were convinced that
the crew of the _Royal James_ had beyond question been guilty of piracy.
Four, however, were freed of the charge, while the rest were sentenced
to be hung, the customary punishment for pirates.
Stede Bonnet, their captain, was not put on trial. The guards at the
marshal's house had been very careless, and Bonnet had made friends with
some men in the town. With the help of these friends he had disguised
himself as a woman, and with one of his mates had escaped in a boat with
an Indian and a negro. People said that his plan was to reach the ships
of another pirate named Moody, who had appeared off the bar of the
harbor a few days before, with a ship of fifty guns, and two smaller
ships, likewise armed, that he had captured on their way from New
England to Charles Town.
From the warehouse window Antony and Nick saw the sails of this insolent
new sea-rover, who dared stand so close inshore, waiting to pounce on
any boats that might put out from the town.
The governor had already sent word to England, asking for aid in his
warfare with the buccaneers, but none came from England. So he told the
Council that they must act for themselves, and they ordered the best
ships in port impressed into service and armed. Colonel Rhett, the man
who had captured Bonnet, was asked to take command of this new fleet,
but he declined, owing to some difficulty he had had with Governor
Johnson. Thereupon the governor himself declared he would be the
admiral, to the great delight of Charles Town. Four ships, one of them
being the captured _Royal James_, were armed with cannon, and a call was
sent out for volunteers.
Nick and Antony, going home one night, read the governor's call posted
on a wall. They went down to the harbor and saw the big ships ready to
sail. "This looks like a chance to set myself right again," said Nick,
slowly. "I wouldn't fight my old mates or Blackbeard; but I don't see
any reason why I shouldn't help to clear the sea of Moody or any other
rascal. I'm going to volunteer."
"The governor might want a boy on board," said Antony. "There are lots
of things I can do about a ship."
That night he asked his father to let him volunteer, and though Jonas
Evans and his wife were very loath to lose their son again, he finally
won their permission. Their friends and neighbors were volunteering;
there was no good reason why they should refuse to do their share.
Next day three hundred men and boys volunteered for the little navy of
Charles Town. Then word came that Stede Bonnet and his companions when
they had reached the bar had found that Moody was cruising northward
that day, and so had put back and taken refuge on Sullivan's Island.
Colonel Rhett, who was very angry at the escape of his captive,
volunteered to lead a party to capture Bonnet again. A small party went
in search, hunting the fugitives. The sand-hills, covered with a thick
growth of stunted live-oaks and myrtles, offered splendid protection,
and the hunt was difficult, but at last the men were sighted, shots were
fired, Bonnet's comrade was killed, and the pirate chief himself was
taken prisoner, and once more brought back to Charles Town by Colonel
Rhett.
While this search and capture were going on Antony and Nick were busy
on Governor Johnson's flag-ship, making ready to put to sea. Lookouts
caught sight of the pirate Moody's vessels returning, sailing closer and
closer in, actually coming inside the bar, as though they meant to
attack the town itself. But inside the bar they stopped, and casting
anchor, quietly rode there, while the sunset colored their sails, and
men and women of Charles Town, on the quays and from the roofs and
windows of their houses, watched them and wondered what might be the
pirate's plans.
That night Governor Johnson, from his flag-ship, gave the order to the
other ships of his small fleet to follow him, and they all slipped their
moorings and stole down the harbor to the fort, and waited there.
At dawn next day the four ships from Charles Town, with their guns under
cover and no signs of war about their decks, crossed the bar, heading
toward the sea. The pirate supposed them to be peaceful merchantmen, and
let them sail past him, and then had his ships close in on their track,
in order to cut off their retreat. What he had often done before with
merchantmen he did now; he ran up the black flag and called to the ships
to surrender.
But Governor Johnson had planned to get his enemy into just this
position. The pirate fleet now lay between his own ships and the town.
He hoisted the royal ensign of England, threw open his ports, unmasked
his guns, and poured a broadside of shot into the nearest pirate ship.
Antony, from the deck of the flag-ship, could see the sudden surprise
and alarm on the faces of the pirate crew.
The pirate chief was a clever skipper, however. By wonderful navigating
he sailed his ship straight for the open sea, and actually managed to
get past Governor Johnson. The latter followed in swift pursuit, and as
the ships were now somewhat scattered, the flag-ship signaled the _Sea
Nymph_ and the _Royal James_ to look out for the pirate sloop.
Soon these ships and the sloop were close together, yard-arm to
yard-arm, and a desperate fight under way. The men of Charles Town
fought well; they drove the pirates from their guns, they swarmed aboard
the pirate ship, and killed the pirates who resisted them. Most of the
pirates fought to the last inch of deck-room, refusing to surrender. A
few took refuge in the hold, and threw up their hands when the enemy
surrounded them. Then the crews of the _Sea Nymph_ and the _Royal James_
sailed the captured sloop back to the harbor, where the men and women
who had been listening to the guns cheered wildly.
In the meantime the governor's flag-ship was chasing the pirate
flag-ship. Antony and another boy stood near Johnson, ready to run his
errands whenever needed; Nick was of the crew that manned one of the
forward cannon. It was a long stern chase, but Johnson slowly drew up on
the other. The buccaneers threw their small boats and even their guns
overboard in an attempt to lighten their ship, but the ship from Charles
Town was the faster, and at length overhauled the rover. A few
broadsides of shot, and the black flag came fluttering down from the
masthead; the governor and part of his crew went on board and the
pirates surrendered.
Antony, dogging the governor's steps, was by him when the hatches were
lifted; to his great astonishment he saw that the hold was filled with
frightened women. The governor turned to the captured rover captain.
"What does this mean?" he demanded, pointing to the women, who were now
climbing to the deck with the help of the Charles Town crew.
"When we captured this ship," said the rover, "we found she was the
_Eagle_, bound from England to Virginia, carrying convicts and
indentured servants. We'd have set them ashore at the first good
chance."
It was true. There were thirty-six women on board, sailing from England
to find husbands and homes in the new world. The pirates had changed the
name of the ship, and taken her for their own use, but had had no chance
to land the women safely.
The governor had another surprise that day. He found that the captain of
this fleet of pirates was not Moody, as all Charles Town had supposed,
but an even more dreaded buccaneer, Richard Worley. This Richard Worley
had been on board the sloop, and had been killed in the fierce fighting
on her deck that morning.
Antony and Nick were of the crew that brought the captured _Eagle_,
with her cargo of women, back to shore. There kind-hearted people of
Charles Town took care of the frightened passengers. In the town that
night there was great rejoicing over the defeat of two of the rovers who
infested that part of the seas, Stede Bonnet and Richard Worley. It was
true that Blackbeard and Moody were still at large, but it might well be
that the fate of their fellows would prove a warning to them that the
people of Charles Town meant business. Governor Johnson and his crews
went back to their regular business, and the town grew quiet again.
Neither Moody nor Blackbeard again troubled the good people there. Weeks
later it was learned that Moody had heard how Charles Town was prepared
for him, and that he had gone to Jamaica, and there taken the "King's
pardon," which was granted to all pirates who would give up their
lawless trade before the following first of January. Afterward word came
that Blackbeard had been captured by a fleet sent out by Governor
Spotswood of Virginia, and commanded by officers of the Royal British
Navy.
Stede Bonnet's crew had already been tried and found guilty of piracy.
The judges had now to consider the case of that buccaneer chief himself.
Every one in Charles Town knew that he had sailed the seas time and
again with the "Jolly Roger" at his masthead, but he was a man of very
attractive appearance and manners, and many of the good people of the
town thought that he really meant to repent and lead a better life. The
judges and jury, however, with Bonnet's past record before them, saw
only the plain duty of dealing with him as they had already dealt with
his crew. Then Colonel Rhett, the gallant soldier who had twice captured
Bonnet, came forward and offered to take the pirate personally to
London, and ask the king to pardon him. The governor felt that he could
not consent to this request; he knew how Bonnet had taken the oath of
repentance once before, and had immediately run up the "Jolly Roger" on
his ship at the first chance he found. Bonnet was a pirate, caught in
the very act. The law was very clear. So Bonnet was hanged, as were the
forty other prisoners who had been found guilty.
Nick stayed with Antony at Mr. Evans's warehouse until the excitement of
the war with the pirates had blown over. He and Antony were almost
inseparable, and the people who met the slim, dark fellow liked him for
his good-nature and ready smile. Whenever they found the chance Antony
and he went sailing or hunting or fishing.
"Tony," he said one day as they sailed back from fishing, "I'm going to
leave the warehouse. No, don't look put out; I'm not going back to my
old way of living. Besides, there aren't any of the rovers left for me
to join. But I was made for the open air, and the work there in the shop
can't hold me. The governor wants soldiers for his province of South
Carolina, and I've a notion the life of a soldier would suit me. I take
naturally to swords and pistols."
Antony smiled. "You'll make a good one, Nick. I shouldn't wonder if you
got to be a general. Yes, you'll like it better. But Dad and I'll hate
to have you go."
So, a few days later, Nicholas Carter, who had once been one of
Blackbeard's crew, offered his services to Governor Johnson and became a
soldier in the small army of the province. He did well, and rose to be a
colonel, and one of the most popular men of Charles Town. But sometimes,
when he and Antony Evans were alone together, Colonel Nicholas Carter
would wink and say, "Remember the day when you and I sailed away on
Blackbeard's ship? Yeo ho, for the life of a pirate!"
"The day you kidnapped me, you mean," Antony would remind him. "That was
a wonderful holiday, to be sure!"
For respectable men turned pirates, and pirates reformed and became
worthy citizens and soldiers, in the days before the little settlement
of Charles Town became the city of Charleston in one of the thirteen
states of the American Union.