“Why, zounds!” said he, “Why then do you people here in the provinces put up with such a rascal as this Teach or Blackbeard or what-ye-call-him? I’d blow him out of the water, were I in his Excellency’s place. Aye, I would fit out an expedition and send it down there and blow the villain clean out of the water and have done with him.” “What was that?” said the Governor, turning around smiling toward the speaker. “Tut, tut! Lieutenant, that shows how little you men of war know about civil affairs. How could I, as Governor of Virginia, fit out an expedition and send it down into North Carolina. Ocracock is under Governor Eden’s jurisdiction, not under mine, and ’tis his place to move against pirates in the waters of his own province. They’re inland waters, and under the jurisdiction of North Carolina.” “Well, your Excellency,” said Lieutenant Maynard, “to be sure I know naught about the law, and only about fighting. But if a villain stood at my neighbor’s door and stopped my own people from coming out and going in upon my business, and robbed them, By Zounds! your Excellency, I would have it out with him, even if I had to chase him into my neighbor’s house to do it.” The Governor laughed, and the little group around him joined in the laughter. Then his Excellency turned again to meet some new-comers who made their way toward him through the circle surrounding him. “I do declare,” said Mr. Dillworth, “methinks Governor Eden of North Carolina is as bad as ever was Fletcher of New York at his worst times. ‘Twas through this Blackbeard that poor Ned Parker was murdered—the first young gentleman of Virginia. ’Tis currently known everywhere—and yet Eden grants the villain the King’s pardon as soon as he asks for it. ’Tis said his Excellency—Eden, I mean—has more than once had his share of the booty that the pirates have taken. Why, would you believe it, the villain pirate was only last year up here at Norfolk, coming and going as he pleased, carrying his Majesty’s pardon in his pocket and flaunting it in the eyes of everybody. Well, if ever we catch him, now he hath broken his pardon, ‘t will be a short enough shrift he’ll get of it, I’ll promise him.” “How is Colonel Parker now?” asked Mr. Page. “He’s about well now,” said Mr. Cartwright, a cousin of Colonel Parker’s. “I was at Marlborough last week, and his gout seems to have fairly left him.” “Methinks he hath never been the same man since poor Master Ned was murdered,” said Mr. Dillworth. “I never saw anybody so broken by trouble as he was at that time.” “His daughter, Miss Nelly, is a great beauty, I hear,” said Lieutenant Maynard. “The girl is well enough,” said Mr. Cartwright briefly.