The captain of the Onslow, Fennimore Gee, rowed alone to the pirate ship and, pistol in hand, demanded that Barthelemy should restore his ship and fight with him like an honest man, instead of attacking by stealth.
The novel proposition of returning a captured ship to its owner and then fighting for its possession so pleased Barthelemy that he declared his willingness to accept it.
His own men also accepted the challenge, but the Onslow's crew refused to fight against Barthelemy, and begged him to take them into his band.
Captain Gee despairingly fired his pistols among the rascally throng, and appealed to Barthelemy, if he had a drop of honorable blood in his body, not to stain his fame as a buccaneer by receiving into his band the worthless fellows who, in the hour of peril, had deserted their captain.
"I'll tell you, my worthy captain," said Robert gayly to his opponent, tossing in the little boat on the waves below. "You are so brave a man that I could not reconcile my conscience to leaving you without a ship. Come, I'll give you, in exchange for the Onslow, my own vessel, the Commodore here. I can vouch for its being a good sailer and valuable, though I got it very cheap. But from sheer philanthropy, I can't give up your crew, you would decimate it; the soldiers, however, you shall have, I don't care what becomes of the land rats."
So before the eyes of the whole harbor, he exchanged ships with the English captain, and after having the old name Onslow effaced and Royal Fortune painted over it in large gilt letters, he set sail with both his vessels for Calabar.
By way of pastime, part of the pirates, under Skyrme's command, made short expeditions on the Fox-Hound to search for any ships that might be crossing their path.
One day the Fox-Hound returned to the Royal Fortune, with all sail set, and reported having noticed on the horizon two suspicious vessels, which instantly gave chase; they were probably men-of-war, and the Fox-Hound had escaped only by crowding on all sail, but they were still pursuing.
"Let them come," said Barthelemy, sweeping the sea with his glass, and soon discovered on the horizon the two ships which, at that distance, resembled sea-gulls.
"Those are not men-of-war," cried Barthelemy, "they look more like pirates, and are coming toward us with every inch of canvas spread. They will fare badly."