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She was running within sight of the scattering barrier of low islands when Captain Wellsby summoned Joe Hawkridge and informed him: "You will act as pilot, Joe, once we fetch sounding on the Twelve Fathom Bank. The chart is faulty, as ye know, and me and my mates are in strange waters with a'mighty little elbow-room. You know the marks, I take it." "Aye, sir, I do that," answered Joe.
But unless the wind changes, he can't beat in to the coast with his fore-topmast gone." "A merciful delay," muttered Jack. "I worry not so much for Captain Wellsby and his people. They will hide themselves well inland when they make out the Revenge, but what of you and me?" "'Tis a vexing life we lead. I will say that much, Master Cockrell."
Aye, Jack, I will feel happier to be elsewhere when Cap'n Wellsby unbars the fo'castle and holds 'em back with his pistols till he can cast off in the jolly-boat." "Yes, the sight of you is apt to put them in a vile temper," laughingly agreed Jack, "and 'tis awkward for the master to bother with us. Now about a little raft " "Two short spars are enough. There they lie.
"After Captain Wellsby turns the pirates loose and quits her?" scoffed Jack. "I am a plaguey fool," cheerfully admitted Joe Hawkridge. "'Twould be out of the frying-pan into the fire, with a vengeance." "And no way to signal our friends," sadly exclaimed Jack. "We forgot flint and steel. It looks much like another voyage." "Straight for the open sea, my bully boy," agreed Joe.
The friends from Charles Town rushed forward to embrace them, loudly demanding to know where the rest were. "We fetched the women safe through," answered Captain Wellsby whose eyes were sunken and the brown beard streaked with gray. "Twelve good men of my crew are dead, and three of the gentlemen passengers. The swamps took toll of some and the Indians slew the others.
How far and in what direction the Plymouth Adventure had been blown by the storm was largely guesswork. By means of dead reckoning and the compass and cross-staff, Captain Wellsby hoped to work out a position but meanwhile he scanned the sea with a sense of brooding anxiety.
Their gunner's mate, a gigantic mulatto with a broken nose, went to the poop when Ned Rackham crooked his finger and these two stood aside, beyond earshot of Captain Wellsby, while they conferred with heads together. "They will strike first," Jack whispered to himself. The misty daylight had not darkened.
Also 1 Silver Porringer 2 Gold Boxons 7 Green Stones Rubies Great & Small 67 P'cl Peaces of Eight & Dollars Also 1 Bag Lump Silver a Small Chaine a corral Necklace 1 Bag English Crowns." Captain Jonathan Wellsby listened to this luscious recital with an air of mild amusement. He was of a temper too stolid and sensible to waste his time on random treasure hunting.
These were half-naked lads, burned black to the waist, with a queer kind of canvas head-gear as a protection against the sun. The boat was steered to pass under the stern of the King George and the crew was unable to fathom if these were pirates or victims of another shipwreck. Captain Wellsby solved it by shouting: "Both your guesses are right!
Captain Wellsby tacked ship and kept the King George well away from the cay, as Joe Hawkridge advised. With an ebbing tide, it was unsafe to venture into shallower water in order to pound Blackbeard's vessel with broadsides. Lieutenant Maynard came aboard in a small boat and was quite the dandy with his brocaded coat and ruffles and velvet small-clothes.
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