Not having that virtue myself, I admire it the more in others, and I thank you from my inmost soul--wherever that may be--for having provided such comely quarters and such fair accommodations for me while I shall please to sail the Revenge.

But I shall not condemn you to idleness and cankering thoughts, my bold blusterer, my terror of the sea, my harrier of the coast, my flaunter of the Jolly Roger washed clean in the tub with soap; I shall give you work to do which shall better suit you than the troublesome trade you've been trying to learn.

You write well and read, I know that, my good Sir Nightcap; and, moreover, you are a fair hand at figures.

I have great work before me in landing and selling the fine cargoes you have brought me, and in counting and dividing the treasure you have locked in your iron-bound chests.

And you shall attend to all that, my reformed cutthroat, my regenerated sea-robber.