Now Mr. Rhett, who was no more of a sailor than Stede Bonnet had been
when he first began his seafaring life, boldly made his way up the coast
to the mouth of Cape Fear River, where he had been told the pirate
vessel was lying. When he reached his destination, Mr. Rhett found that
it would not be an easy thing to ascend the river, for the reason that
the pilots he had brought with him knew nothing about the waters of that
part of the coast, and although the two ships made their way very
cautiously, it was not long after they had entered the river before they
got out of the channel, and it being low tide, both of them ran aground
upon sand bars.
This was a very annoying accident, but it was not disastrous, for the
sailing masters who commanded the sloops knew very well that when the
tide rose, their vessels would float again. But it prevented Mr. Rhett
from going on and making an immediate attack upon the pirate vessel, the
topmasts of which could be plainly seen behind a high headland some
distance up the river.
Of course Bonnet, or Captain Thomas, as he now chose to be called, soon
became aware of the fact that two good-sized vessels were lying aground
near the mouth of the river, and having a very natural curiosity to see
what sort of craft they were, he waited until nightfall and then sent
three armed boats to make observations.
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