"On a pirate's deck?" I jeered.
"From a pirate's quarterdeck," he corrected me gravely. "I am on my last cruise. The Royal James is to vindicate her name. Aye, in years to come she will be regarded as a shrine of loyalty and devotion, and to have sailed with Andrew Murray in her—— Why, sir, who remembers to-day of Robin Hood aught but that he was true to King Richard in adversity?"
The man's surety was amazing.
"This passes all reason," said my father wearily. "You must be insane."
"Not at all," retorted my great-uncle. "I am the leading practitioner of my profession. Winter, Davis, Roberts, Bellamy, all the more noted—ah—pirates of recent years, were small fry compared to me. You would find it difficult to credit me did I inform you of my takings——"
"Blood-money!" roared my father. "Thieves' money!"
"Ah, that unfortunate point of view of yours again," protested Murray. "I tell you, Ormerod, you stand in the boy's way."
"He is not a boy, but a man," snapped my father. "And able to judge his own course."
"So be it."
My great-uncle turned to me once more.