“Urging the fellows into the hold by no gentle means, Teach leaped in with them, and then, setting fire to several pots of brimstone, pitch and other inflammable things, the pirate chief drew the hatches shut. There in the close, unventilated hold they sat upon the ballast, choking, coughing, suffocating in the noxious fumes until, half-roasted, nauseated, almost asphyxiated, the men could endure no longer and, rushing to the hatch, threw it open and crawled on deck. Not until all the others had gained the open air did Blackbeard emerge triumphant, and throughout his life he was never tired of boasting of his endurance, and took the greatest pride in recalling that his men declared that, when he came forth, he had looked like a half-hanged man. “In fact, this remark by a thoughtless member of his crew set Teach to thinking and, his curiosity being aroused, he suggested that another and even more interesting test should be made to see who could come the nearest to being hung without dying. But at this his men drew the line; they had no desire to choke and kick while dangling with a noose about their necks, even to satisfy their captain’s curiosity. In vain Teach pointed out that sooner or later they’d be hung, most probably, and that they might as well become accustomed to the sensation at once. Without avail he argued that by so doing they might become so inured to hanging that it would hold no terrors for them. One and all refused point-blank, and Teach, realizing that to be suspended from his yardarm alone would prove nothing and that his men might try his endurance a bit too far, and also realizing that he could not string up his entire crew by himself, reluctantly gave up the idea and, cursing the men fluently as cowards, busied his mind thinking up other amusements. “Such pleasantries were of almost daily occurrence, and his crew and his friends thought themselves lucky indeed if they got off with nothing more serious than his brimstone test. One night, for example, he was entertaining two cronies, one his sailing master and the other the pilot who had just brought the ship into port. All were in the best of spirits, smoking, drinking, spinning yarns of the sea in the tiny, stuffy cabin, when Blackbeard, without the least warning, suddenly whipped out a brace of pistols, cocked them, crossed his hands, and before his amazed guests knew what he was about, he blew out the candle and fired his weapons in the direction of the astounded and terrified men. The sailing master was shot through the knee—although, as you will learn later, it was a most fortunate thing for him—and lamed for life, and indignantly the pilot and sailing master demanded of Teach what he meant by such behavior. “Having cursed them fluently for several minutes, Blackbeard roared with boisterous laughter, and replied good-naturedly that ‘if I didn’t kill one of you now and then you’d forget who I was.’