"An admirable code of ethics," observed my father.
"'Tis as good as any I have discovered," agreed Murray smoothly. "You called me an outlaw a few minutes past. I can not deny it. I am an outlaw because I worked in my own way to reëstablish my lawful king. You, who once served that king in exile, turned against him and ruined me, made an outlaw of me. Well, I do what I may; and since Morgan's day no man has played the game so successfully, as any seaman would tell you."
"I'll vouch for that," said my father. "But come to the point. What will you have? That I should apprentice Robert to you to be indentured a good, honest, trusty and skilful pirate?"
"Even so."
My father sat back in his chair.
"I'll not," he said.
Murray treated himself to a pinch of snuff.
"What does our young man himself say?" he asked.
"I say that you offer me no inducement," I answered as shortly as I could.
"'Odslife," he swore. "No inducement? My dear nephew, I offer you an open, bracing life—for a brief space; a share in a brave venture; an opportunity to rehabilitate your family, to rise to place, title and honor."