I pray ye, don't do that." Blackbeard leaned back and laughed.

"I swear that I thought it would be one of the very first steps in conversion for me to give back to the fellow the ship which is his own and which I have taken from him.

But fear not, my noble pirate's clerk; he is not the man that I am; he is a vile coward, and when he has taken the oath he will be afraid to break it.

Moreover--" "And if, with that ship," said Greenway, his eyes beginning to sparkle, "he become an honest merchant--" "I don't trust him," said Blackbeard; "he is a knave and a sharper, and there is no truth in him.

But when you have settled up my business, my clerk, and have gotten me well converted, I will send you away with him, and you shall take up again the responsibility of his soul." The Scotchman clapped his horny hands together.