"'Swounds! Perhaps you'll explain yourself?
Whither has Wolverstone gone?"
"To Tortuga. He's gone with a message to the officers commanding
the other four ships of the fleet that is awaiting me there, telling
them what's happened and why they are no longer to expect me."
Bishop's great face seemed to swell and its high colour to deepen.
He swung to Lord Julian.
"You hear that, my lord? Deliberately he has let Wolverstone loose
upon the seas again - Wolverstone, the worst of all that gang of
pirates after himself. I hope your lordship begins at last to
perceive the folly of granting the King's commission to such a man
as this against all my counsels. Why, this thing is... it's just
mutiny... treason! By God! It's matter for a court-martial."
"Will you cease your blather of mutiny and treason and
courts-martial?" Blood put on his hat, and sat down unbidden.
"I have sent Wolverstone to inform Hagthorpe and Christian and
Yberville and the rest of my lads that they've one clear month in
which to follow my example, quit piracy, and get back to their
boucans or their logwood, or else sail out of the Caribbean Sea.
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