He was not a coward, but on board this ship he must give heed to the words of the desperado who commanded it.
"You have no right," continued Blackbeard, "to strut about on the quarter-deck of that fine vessel, the Revenge; you have no right to hoist above you the Jolly Roger, and you have no right to lie right and left and tell people you are a pirate.

A pirate, forsooth! you are no pirate.

A pirate is a sailor, and you are no sailor! You are no better than a blind man led by a dog: if the dog breaks away from him he is lost, and if the sailing-masters you pick up one after another break away from you, you are lost.

It is a cursed shame, Stede Bonnet, and it shall be no longer.

At this moment, by my own right and for the sake of every man who sails under the Jolly Roger, I take away from you the command of the Revenge." Now Bonnet could not refrain from springing to his feet.