"Don't you think this conversion is rather sudden?" he asked. "Is the estimable Captain Jack not taking this means to throw us off our guard?"
"I don't think so," replied Jack quietly. "I have studied the man carefully since I have known him and I have discovered that, try as he will, he is not pleased with the life of a pirate. I can see, too, that he craves action, and it may have been only natural, for that reason, that he turned to piracy. I am willing to take his word that he will do what he says whenever he is willing to give it."
"And so am I!" declared Frank.
"It looks pretty fishy to me," declared Captain Glenn, but Williams sided with the two lads.
Half an hour later Captain Jack returned. Walking up to the table he extended a hand each to Jack and Frank.
"You can count on me," he said simply, and added with a half smile, "if you are not afraid to trust an erstwhile pirate."
Frank and Jack grasped the extended hands and gripped them warmly.
"Not a bit of it," they said in a single voice, and Frank added: "We are glad to have a man like you with us."
And thus came about the conversion of Captain Jack, pirate.