THE TIDE DECIDES
It was now September, and the weather was beautiful on the North
Carolina coast. Captain Thomas (late Bonnet) of the Royal James (late
Revenge) had always enjoyed cool nights and invigorating morning air,
and therefore it 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 harbour. This
well-tried pirate captain--Stede Bonnet, as we shall call him,
notwithstanding his assumption of another name--was in a genial mood as
he drank in the morning air.
From his point of view he had a 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
Scotchman, and to ask him why he did not put on a merrier visage on such
a sparkling morning, for since he had first started out as Captain
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 former captain of the Revenge was not an
accomplished and seasoned desperado. Even the great Blackbeard would not
have cared to give him nicknames, nor dared to play his blithesome
tricks upon him; he was now no more Captain Nightcap to any man. His
crew of hairy ruffians had learned to understand that he knew what he
wanted, and, more than that, he knew how to order it 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 flag-ship also
lay two good-sized sloops, manned by their own crews, which he had
captured in Delaware Bay and had brought down with him to this quiet
spot, a few miles up the Cape Fear River, where now he was repairing his
own ship, which had had a hard time of it since she had again come into
his hands.
For many a long day the sound of the hammer and the saw had mingled with
the song of the birds, and Captain Bonnet felt that in a day or two he
might again sail out upon the sea, conveying his two prizes to some
convenient mart, while he, with his good ship, freshened and restored,
would go in search of more victories, more booty, and more blood.
"Greenway, I tell you," said Bonnet, continuing his remarks, "you are
too glum; you've got the only long face in all this, my fleet. Even
those poor fellows who man my prizes are not so solemn, although they
know not, when I have done with them, whether I shall maroon them to
quietly starve or shall sink them in their own vessels."
"But I hae no such reason to be cheerful," said Ben. "I hae bound mysel'
to stand by ye till ye hae gone to the de'il, an' I hae no chance o'
freein' mysel' from my responsibeelities by perishin' on land or in the
sea."
"If anything could make me glum, Ben Greenway, it would be you," said
the other; "but I am getting used to you, and some of these days when I
have captured a ship laden with Scotch liquors and Scotch plaids I
believe that you will turn pirate yourself for the sake of your share of
the prizes."
"Which is likely to be on the same mornin' that ye turn to be an honest
mon," said Ben; "but I am no' in the way o' expectin' miracles."
On went the pounding and the sawing and the hammering and the swearing
and the singing of birds, although the latter were a little farther away
than they had been, and in the course of the day the pirate captain,
erect, scrutinizing, and blasphemous, went over his ship,
superintending the repairs. In a day or two everything would be
finished, and then he and his two prizes could up sail and away. It was
a beautiful harbour in which he lay, but he was getting tired of it.
There were great prospects before our pirate captain. Perhaps he might
have the grand good fortune to fall in with that low-born devil,
Blackbeard, who, when last he had been heard from, commanded but a small
vessel, fearing no attack upon this coast. What a proud and glorious
moment it would be when a broadside and another and another should be
poured in upon his little craft from the long guns of the Royal James.
Bonnet was still standing, reflecting, with bright eyes, upon this
dazzling future, and wondering what would be the best way of letting the
dastardly Blackbeard know whose guns they were which had sunk his ship,
when a boat was seen coming around the headland. This was one of his own
boats, which had been posted as a sentinel, and which now brought the
news that two vessels were coming in at the mouth of the river, but that
as the distance was great and the night was coming on they could not
decide what manner of craft they were.
This information made everybody jump, on board the Royal James, and the
noise of the sawing and the hammering ceased as completely as had the
songs of the birds. In a few minutes that quick and able mariner,
Bonnet, had sent three armed boats down the river to reconnoitre. If the
vessels entering the river were merchantmen, they should not be allowed
to get away; but if they were enemies, although it was difficult to
understand how enemies could make their appearance in these quiet
waters, they must be attended to, either by fight or flight.
When the three boats came back, and it was late before they appeared,
every man upon the Royal James was crowded along her side to hear the
news, and even the people on the prizes knew that something had
happened, and stood upon every point of vantage, hoping that in some way
they could find out what it was.
The news brought by the boats was to the effect that two vessels, not
sailing as merchantmen and well armed and manned, were now ashore on
sand-bars, not very far above the mouth of the river. Now Bonnet swore
bravely. If the work upon his vessels had been finished he would up
anchor and away and sail past these two grounded ships, whatever they
were and whatever they came for. He would sail past them and take with
him his two prizes; he would glide out to sea with the tide, and he
would laugh at them as he left them behind. But the Royal James was not
ready to sail.
The tide was now low; five hours afterward, when it should be high,
those two ships, whatever they were, would float again, and the Royal
James, whatever her course of action should be, would be cut off from
the mouth of the river. This was a greater risk than even a pirate as
bold as Bonnet would wish to run, and so there was no sleep that night
on the Royal James. The blows of the hammers and the sounds of the saws
made a greater noise than they had ever done before, so that the night
birds were frightened and flew shrieking away. Every man worked with all
the energy that was in him, for each hairy rascal had reason to believe
that if the vessel they were on did not get out of the river before the
two armed strangers should be afloat there might be hard times ahead for
them. Even Ben Greenway was aroused. "The de'il shall not get him any
sooner than can be helped," he said to himself, and he hammered and
sawed with the rest of them.
On his stout and well-armed sloop the Henry, Mr. William Rhett, of
Charles Town, South Carolina, paced anxiously all night. Frequently from
the sand-bar on which his vessel was grounded he called over to his
other sloop, also fast grounded, giving orders and asking questions. On
both vessels everybody was at work, getting ready for action when the
tide should rise.
Some weeks before the wails and complaints of a tortured sea-coast had
come down from the Jersey shores to South Carolina, asking for help at
the only place along that coast whence help could come. A pirate named
Thomas was working his way southward, spreading terror before him and
leaving misery behind. These appeals touched the hearts of the people of
Charles Town, already sore from the injuries and insults inflicted upon
them by Blackbeard in those days when Bonnet sat silently on the pirate
ship, doing nothing and learning much.
There was no hesitancy; for their own sake and for the sake of their
commerce, this new pirate must not come to Charles Town harbour, and an
expedition of two vessels, heavily armed and well manned and commanded
by Mr. William Rhett, was sent northward up the coast to look for the
pirate named Thomas and to destroy him and his ship. Mr. Rhett was not a
military man, nor did he belong to the navy. He was a citizen capable of
commanding soldiers, and as such he went forth to destroy the pirate
Thomas.
Mr. Rhett met people enough along the coast who told him where he might
find the pirate, but he found no one to tell him how to navigate the
dangerous waters of the Cape Fear River, and so it was that soon after
entering that fine stream he and his consort found themselves aground.
Mr. Rhett was quite sure that he had discovered the lair of the big game
he was looking for. Just before dark, three boats, well filled with men,
had appeared from up the river, and they had looked so formidable that
everything had been made ready to resist an attack from them. They
retired, but every now and then during the night, when there was quiet
for a few minutes, there would come down the river on the wind the sound
of distant hammering and the noise of saws.
It was after midnight before the Henry and the Sea Nymph floated free,
but they anchored where they were and waited for the morning. Whether
they would sail up the river after the pirate or whether he would come
down to them, daylight would show.
Mr. Rhett's vessels had been at anchor for five hours, and every man on
board of them were watching and waiting, when daylight appeared and
showed them a tall ship, under full sail, rounding the distant headland
up the river. Now up came their anchors and their sails were set. The
pirate was coming!
Whatever the Royal James intended to do, Mr. Rhett had but one plan, and
that was to meet the enemy as soon as possible and fight him. So up
sailed the Henry and up sailed the Sea Nymph, and they pressed ahead so
steadily to meet the Royal James that the latter vessel, in carrying out
what was now her obvious intention of getting out to sea, was forced
shoreward, where she speedily ran upon a bar. Then, from the vessels of
Charles Town there came great shouts of triumph, which ceased when first
the Henry and then the Sea Nymph ran upon other bars and remained
stationary.
Here was an unusual condition--three ships of war all aground and about
to begin a battle, a battle which would probably last for five hours if
one or more of the stationary vessels were not destroyed before that
time. It was soon found, however, that there would only be two parties
to the fight, for the Sea Nymph was too far away to use her guns. The
Royal James had an advantage over her opponents, since, when she
slightly careened, her decks were slanted away from the enemy, while the
latter's were presented to her fire.
At it they went, hot and heavy. Bonnet and his men now knew that they
were engaged with commissioned war vessels, and they fought for their
lives. Mr. Rhett knew that he was fighting Thomas, the dreaded pirate of
the coast, and he felt that he must destroy him before his vessel should
float again. The cannon roared, muskets blazed away, and the combatants
were near enough even to use pistols upon each other. Men died, blood
flowed, and the fight grew fiercer and fiercer.
Bonnet roared like an incarnate devil; he swore at his men, he swore at
the enemy, he swore at his bad fortune, for had he not missed the
channel the game would have been in his own hands.
So on they fought, and the tide kept steadily rising. The five hours
must pass at last, and the vessel which first floated would win the day.
The five hours did pass, and the Henry floated, and Bonnet swore louder
and more fiercely than before. He roared to his men to fire and to
fight, no matter whether they were still aground or not, and with many
oaths he vowed that if any one of them showed but a sign of weakening he
would cut him down upon the spot. But the hairy scoundrels who made up
the crew of the Royal James had no idea of lying there with their ship
on its side, while two other ships--for the Sea Nymph was now
afloat--should sail around them, rake their decks, and shatter them to
pieces. So the crew consulted together, despite their captain's roars
and oaths, and many of them counselled surrender. Their vessel was much
farther inshore than the two others, and no matter what happened
afterward they preferred to live longer than fifteen or twenty minutes.
But Bonnet quailed not before fate, before the enemy, or before his
crew; if he heard another word of surrender he would fire the magazine
and blow the ship to the sky with every man in it. Raising his cutlass
in air, he was about to bring it down upon one of the cowards he
berated, when suddenly he was seized by two powerful hands, which pinned
his arms behind him. With a scream of rage, he turned his head and
found that he was in the grasp of Ben Greenway.
"Let go your sword, Master Bonnet," said Ben; "it is o' no use to ye
now, for ye canna get awa' from me. I'm nae older than ye are, though I
look it, an' I've got the harder muscles. Ye may be makin' your way
steadily an' surely to the gates o' hell an' it mayna be possible that I
can prevent ye, but I'm not goin' to let ye tumble in by accident so
long as I've got two arms left to me."
Pale, haggard, and writhing, Stede Bonnet was disarmed, and the Jolly
Roger came down.