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For some moments after the conclusion of Rowland’s speech, Mary uttered not a word, but stood with uplifted eyes, as if in silent suppication to Heaven for guidance in this her hour of peril and danger.

The solemn silence which reigned in the apartment was soon broken by Rowland who thus again addressed Miss Hamilton:

‘Will you consent to become my son’s wife?’

‘Never!’ replied the fair girl, firmly. ‘Although the life of my friend is dearer to me than my own, I will never consent to save it by a dishonored allegiance with the son of a pirate.’

‘Then an angel spoke,’ exclaimed Henry.

‘By the piper that played before Moses, and I can swear on the blissed book to that same, masther Henry,’ ejaculated Pat O’Leary, who, with a countenance swaying alternately from laughing to crying, formed a somewhat ludicrous contrast to the rest of the group.

‘Take that young sprig of nobility below again, Pepper,’ exclaimed Rowland.

As Henry was about to follow the individual in question, who was preparing to depart with his prisoner, Mary said:

‘Farewell, Henry, be of good cheer, and despair not, for He who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, will most assuredly deliver you from your villanous persecutor.’

Having thus spoken, Miss Hamilton immediately retired into the adjoining apartment.

‘Come, young man,’ exclaimed Pepper, ‘bear a hand, and trot here in my wake.’

‘Lead on,’ answered Henry, and so saying he followed Pepper towards the door.

They had hardly reached it, however, before their farther progress was impeded by the entrance of Blackbeard, who almost breathlessly exclaimed:

‘It is all over with us, father. The boats from the sloop-of-war on the other side of the island, and their crews armed to the teeth, are now within a few rods of the palace.’

‘Be the bones of St. Patrick, an’ sure that is the most illegant news that iver graated the ears iv a jintleman in disthress!’ exclaimed Pat O’Leary, who was in an ecstacy of joy at the prospect of his speedy deliverance.

‘What is to be done, father?’ asked Blackbeard.

‘Done,’ exclaimed Rowland, in a voice of thunder, ‘why, we must fight and die, as we have lived, at war with all mankind.’

By this time a considerable number of the pirates had entered the palace, and were ordered by Rowland to close the doors and barricade them with whatever moveables they could find, but before his command could be executed, the apartment was forcibly entered by the crew of one of the launches of His Majesty’s sloop of war, Vengeance, headed by an officer, who called out to the inmates,–

‘Surrender in the name of King George!’

‘In the name of King Lucifer, then, I will never surrender,’ exclaimed Rowland, as he aimed a blow at the officer with his cutlass.

The fight thus began, and soon became general, but although the pirates fought desperately, they were soon overpowered by the superior numbers and coolness of their adversaries, and as a pistol shot laid Rowland upon the floor, the few desperadoes who remained, agreed to surrender at discretion, with the exception of Blackbeard, who fought like a tiger, until he fell covered with wounds by his father’s side, the red current of life mingling with that of his unnatural parent.

‘Some one must have betrayed us, Herbert,’ exclaimed the now dying Rowland, ‘and the curse of,–but no, Clarice, I cannot come to thee, thou art in Heaven. O God, my child, my dearest one, where art thou, Clarice, Elvira, El–‘

Here the sound of his voice was heard no more. Rowland was dead!

As his cold hand fell lifeless by his side, it rested upon the cold clammy cheek of his son, and it became evident to all around that the short but eventful career of Blackbeard, the far-famed Pirate of Roanoke was forever ended.

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