“Well, here’s a pirate—a female pirate—offering to purvey a ship for you in return.”
“And if she is,” says Brandon, with energy, “I’ll take it. I’ve got to get the property back somehow. I tell you what, Harry, I’ve been thinking that there’s cases where ordinary rules of morals don’t apply.”
“Do you say so? Continue, good supercargo.”
“Well, that’s all,” said Pomfrett, after a little consideration. “But don’t you agree with me?”
“Oh, yes,” I said. “But the question is, what are we to do next?”
“Let us look the situation fairly in the face,” said Pomfrett. “I wish there was less noise, but it can’t be helped. First, there’s Dawkins, sailing away with our ship, the Blessed Endeavour.”
“And Mr Murch’s silver. Or, rather, Mistress Morgan Leroux’s silver.”
“There again,” said the agent, wrinkling his brow. “How do I know whose silver it is? It may be the very silver I set out to get. You can’t believe these pirate people. Anyway, it’s aboard my ship.”
“Call it yours, then. What next?”
“Next, there’s Murch in his ship, the Wheel of Fortune, which he owes to me, engaged in taking Porto-Bello. And next, there’s our ship which we haven’t got, but which Morgan Leroux says she will get for us.”