THE NEW FIRST LIEUTENANT

"You!" roared Blackbeard, making as if he would jump upon him; "you! You may fall to and bend your back with the others in the forecastle, or you can jump overboard if you like. My quarter-master, Richards, now commands my old vessel. Presently I shall go over and settle things on that bark, but first I shall step down into the cabin and see what rare good things Sir Nightcap, the sugar-planter, has prepared for me."

With this he went below, followed by the man he had brought with him.

It was Dickory, half dazed by what he had heard, who now stepped up to Paul Bittern. The latter, his countenance blacker than it had ever been before, first scowled at him, but in a moment the ferocity left his glance.

"Oho!" he said, "here's a pretty pickle for me and you, as well as for Bonnet and the Scotchman!"

"Do you suppose," exclaimed Dickory, "that what he says is true? That he has stolen this ship from Captain Bonnet, and that he has taken it for his own?"

"Suppose!" sneered the other, "I know it. He has stolen from me as well as from Bonnet. I should have commanded this ship, and I had made all my plans to do it when I got here."

"Then you are as great a rascal," said Dickory, "as that vile pirate down below."