When these boats returned to the
_Royal James_ and reported that the grounded vessels were not
well-loaded trading craft, but large sloops full of men and armed with
cannon, Bonnet (for we prefer to call him by his old name) had good
reason to fold his arms, knit his brows, and strut up and down the deck.
He was sure that the armed vessels came from Charles Town, and there was
no reason to doubt that if the Governor of South Carolina had sent two
ships against him the matter was a very serious one. He was penned up in
the river, he had only one fighting vessel to contend against two, and
if he could not succeed in getting out to sea before he should be
attacked by the Charles Town ships, there would be but little chance of
his continuing in his present line of business. If the _Royal James_ had
been ready to sail, there is no doubt that Bonnet would have taken his
chance of finding the channel in the dark, and would have sailed away
that night without regard to the cannonading which might have been
directed against him from the two stranded vessels.
But as it was impossible to get ready to sail, Bonnet went to work with
the greatest energy to get ready to fight. He knew that when the tide
rose there would be two armed sloops afloat, and that there would be a
regular naval battle on the quiet waters of Cape Fear River.
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