Silver spoke first.
"Well, here they be, Bill."
Bones' tongue traveled the circuit of his lips twice before he replied; he did not once take his gaze from Moira.
"A proper wench, ain't ye?" he fawned.
"Do ye tell me so!" she exclaimed.
And the pirates screeched with laughter.
"Lusty, ye are," sneered Bones. "Ye need tamin', and I ha' a hankerin' to take ye in hand."
"'Twould take ten of your like," retorted Moira, nose in air.
Silver interposed in the midst of a second burst of laughter. I had to admire the scoundrel's deftness. He contrived to appear to be coming to the rescue of Bones in such a way as to rouse all the man's resentment against the cause of the implied humiliation.
"Sure, mistress," said Long John very respectfully, "what the cap'n would know is how long it should take to shift the treasure Cap'n Murray had ye bury on the Dead Man's Chest?"