The Hero of Ticonderoga Part 52

The _Gaspee_ was bound for Quebec, and the prisoners were overjoyed at the prospect of a change.

"It cannot be for the worse," said one of the Americans to Allen; "therefore we shall be the gainers."

"I wish they would hang us right away," answered the hero of Ticonderoga, "for I am tired of this life."

"We shall all be free----"

"Yes, when in our graves."

"Do not get downhearted, colonel; we have pulled through many a hard row before now."

There was a consolation in having company, and the prisoners from the other s.h.i.+ps had been crowded on the _Gaspee_.

"March out the rebels."

All heard the order given, and each looked at his fellow with anxious glance.

It might be a farewell to them. Who could tell?

The leg irons were unlocked and the prisoners marched up the companionway to the upper deck.

As they reached the deck the fresh air was almost overwhelming, for they had not breathed any for several days.

They were marshaled in line and awaited their doom.

Soon a bedecked officer appeared on deck accompanied by one of the most villainous-looking seamen that ever stepped upon a deck.

"Are these all?" asked the English officer.

"Yes, general."

"Which is Ethan Allen?"

Allen was pointed out, and the gold-laced, red-coated officer raised his pince-nez and looked at Allen as he would at any curiosity.

"Which is Eben Pike?"

The young scout was pointed out by the officer in charge, and he had to undergo a similar inspection.

"And these are rebels? Well, well! England has nothing to fear if this is a sample of those fighting against her. So you are Ethan Allen? You are the man who broke into Ticonderoga? Well, well, well!

You achieved fame, but whether it will avail you much when you stand on the gallows is for you to say."

The English officer had jerked out these sentences more to himself than to the prisoners.

He turned to the villainous old salt by his side.

"What do you think of your cargo?"

"I'd rather have pigs."

"You show sense, but as you cannot have pigs you must take these. You are under bonds to land them in England--how I don't care--only they must have strength enough to stand upright on the gallows, for Jack Ketch must not have too great a task."

The seaman chuckled.

"I've carried lots of cattle afore, and I never lose any, save a few I toss overboard to save trouble. I'll land these or give an account of 'em."

Every word was uttered with a view of enraging the prisoners.

Allen learned afterward that the provocation was intended and deliberate, its object being to get him to commit some overt act so that he could be hanged or shot for insubordination.

The seaman was the captain of a sailing merchantman bound for England, who had been engaged to transport the Americans to that country.

After a list had been made of the prisoners they were marched off the _Gaspee_ onto a barge, which was towed out to a merchantman lying in the bay. Four rowboats were engaged to tow the barge, and just as they started the hawser broke and the barge was adrift.

After several minor accidents the prisoners were landed on the deck of the merchantman, and soon found they had exchanged bad for worse.

A portion of the vessel had been boarded off by white oak planks, making a s.p.a.ce about twenty-two feet long by twenty feet wide.

Into this s.p.a.ce thirty-four American prisoners were pushed, handcuffed in pairs.

Allen refused to enter.

The captain asked who he was that he should dare to disobey orders.

"I surrendered to the British under a pledge that I should be treated as a prisoner of war, and I demand that we shall all be treated as human beings, not as cattle."

The captain laughed brutishly.

"Ha! ha! ha! That is good! Do you think I would treat cattle that way? They would all be dead before they reached England. No, no, my dear rebel! you are treated as rebels, not cattle."

Two seamen took hold of Allen and threw him into the little inclosure, closing the door as soon as he was within.

An hour later Allen was called out.

A lieutenant had asked to see him.

"So you are Ethan Allen?" the English lieutenant asked.

"That is my name."

"Then, apart from the pleasure I have in seeing you here, I have but one greater joy, and that is that I am able to treat you like this."

The officer spat in Allen's face.

The Green Mountain hero's hands were manacled, but he raised them and brought them down with such force on the man's face that he fell headlong on the deck.

Instantly Allen was surrounded with bayonets.