The Hero of Ticonderoga Part 56

"Can you not see? It is to strike terror into the rebels."

"So be it! But, mark me, I speak as a rebel, but also as a man, and I tell you that for every American hanged without due process of law, ten Englishmen shall die. Do not mistake me! I shall be a free man again, and shall make England suffer. The leaders of the Americans, called by you rebels, will know of this murder and will avenge it."

The British officer made no reply, but waved his hand to the sergeant, who removed the ill-fated fifteen.

By some chance Allen had omitted Eben's name from the fifteen, and while he regretted it at first, he was more than pleased now that the oversight had occurred.

When the prisoners were removed to their part of the lower deck, Eben managed to get close to Allen.

"You don't think they will hang those?" he asked.

"I do not know, my boy. I think they are vile enough for anything."

"I heard that officer, who came aboard with dispatches, say that there was a lot of the patriots close here."

"Of our people?"

"Yes."

"That accounts for it, then. They will hang the prisoners as an act of defiance."

"Colonel, I have an idea."

"What is it, Eben?"

"Come closer to me, for I must whisper very softly."

Eben managed so that his mouth was very close to Allen's ear, and then he told of his plan.

"I can slip over into the water when it is quite dark and swim to land; then I can make my way to the patriots and tell them the straits we are in."

"You could not reach the land."

"Not reach it? Why, colonel, have you forgotten how I swam across dear old Champlain and then back again?"

"I am not likely to forget that."

"Then I am sure I can do this little bit."

"But they will fire on you?"

"If they see me; and that is just what I am going to prevent."

"How?"

"Never mind that, colonel. Only give your consent and I will succeed, and I think I can save the lives of our friends."

"Eben, you are very brave. Can you bear to think of your fate?"

"I have thought of it. If we stay here we shall be hanged; if I fail to reach land I shall drown, and I think I would rather drown than be hanged. What say you, colonel?"

"My dear fellow, you must act as you think best."

"All right, colonel. Good-by; I may never see you again."

"Good-by, Eben. Take care of yourself, and may Heaven bless you."

Several times Allen tried to communicate with Eben, and to try to dissuade him from his hazardous undertaking, but the youth felt instinctively that he would do so, and remained out of reach of his beloved colonel's voice.

When night came Eben managed to get to the side of the s.h.i.+p un.o.bserved, and in a few moments he had dropped noiselessly into the water.

But, as ill luck would have it, he got entangled in some chains as he struck out from the s.h.i.+p, and the noise attracted the attention of the guard.

"Man overboard!" he cried.

Allen heard the cry and his heart stood still, for he was sure Eben would be captured, and then nothing could save his life.

The officer in charge of the prisoners heard the cry also, and at once ordered every man to answer to his name.

It was the work of but a few minutes, and it was ascertained that Eben had really escaped.

"Do you see him?" asked the captain.

"Yes."

"Fire on him!"

Several muskets were fired, and had not the Vermonter been an excellent swimmer he would have been killed. But Eben dived and swam under the water a great distance, and the bullets were deflected by the water.

A boat was lowered and the stoutest sailors, with four marines, manned it.

"Ten pounds to the man who kills him," said the captain, "and twenty for the man who brings him in alive."

There was a stimulus in the offer of reward, although the Englishmen, every one of them, would have gloried in the chase and in hunting the boy to his death without even the chance of a reward.

Eben saw the boat coming after him, and he knew that he was in a race for life.

He was not daunted.

He watched the boat skim through the moonlit water, and he floated for some little distance to ascertain whether he was seen.

a.s.sured of that, he laughed quietly to himself over the chase he would give them.

He dashed the water about as though he was about to sink, and instantly a musket ball struck the water within a few feet of him.

Then he dived and swam in another direction, knowing that the boat would continue on its straight track.

When he reappeared above the water he saw that he had gained very materially on his pursuers, and as he did not care what part of the coast he reached, he again dived and swam farther down the sh.o.r.e.