Now Captain Ichabod fairly shouted with delight.
"Bravo! Bravo!" he exclaimed; "I didn't dream, sir, that you were a man of such a noble spirit. You shall go with us, sir. Your presence will aid greatly in making our hoped-for capture a most orderly affair; no one can look upon you, bedad, without knowing that you are a high-minded and honourable man, and would not take a box or case from any one if you did not need it. Now, sir, we shall put about, and by good fortune we may soon sight a merchantman. Even if it be but a coastwise trader, it may serve our purpose."
Mr. Delaplaine, with something of a smile upon his sedate face, hurried to Kate, who was upon the quarter-deck.
"My dear, we are about to introduce a little variety into our dull lives. As soon as we can overhaul a merchantman we shall commit a piracy. But don't turn pale; I have arranged it all."
"You!" exclaimed the wide-eyed Kate.
"Yes," said her uncle, and he told his tale.
"And remember this, my dear," he added; "if we cannot pay, we do not eat. I shall be as relentless as the bloody Blackbeard; if they take not my money, I shall swear to Ichabod that we touch not their goods."
"And are you sure," she said, "that there will be no bloodshed?"
"I vouch for that," said he, "for I shall lead the boarding party."
She took him by both hands. "Why," she said, "it need be no more than laying in goods from a store-house; and I cannot but be glad, dear uncle, for I am so very, very hungry."