CHAPTER XXIX.
ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.
Three days after his capture, Ethan Allen heard an extraordinary noiseon the upper deck, and he knew that the _Gaspee_ was about to sail.But its destination he did not know.
After the first day the prisoners were allowed to have one meal a day,for, as Prescott told Allen, he did not want to cheat the gallows.
The _Gaspee_ was bound for Quebec, and the prisoners were overjoyed atthe 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 ofTiconderoga, "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 hardrow before now."
There was a consolation in having company, and the prisoners from theother ships had been crowded on the _Gaspee_.
"March out the rebels."
All heard the order given, and each looked at his fellow with anxiousglance.
It might be a farewell to them. Who could tell?
The leg irons were unlocked and the prisoners marched up thecompanionway to the upper deck.
As they reached the deck the fresh air was almost overwhelming, forthey 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 mostvillainous-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 raisedhis 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 toundergo a similar inspection.
"And these are rebels? Well, well! England has nothing to fear ifthis is a sample of those fighting against her. So you are EthanAllen? You are the man who broke into Ticonderoga? Well, well, well!You achieved fame, but whether it will avail you much when you stand onthe gallows is for you to say."
The English officer had jerked out these sentences more to himself thanto 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. Youare under bonds to land them in England--how I don't care--only theymust have strength enough to stand upright on the gallows, for JackKetch 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 Itoss 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 anddeliberate, its object being to get him to commit some overt act sothat 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 inthe bay. Four rowboats were engaged to tow the barge, and just as theystarted the hawser broke and the barge was adrift.
After several minor accidents the prisoners were landed on the deck ofthe 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 space about twenty-two feet long by twenty feet wide.
Into this space thirty-four American prisoners were pushed, handcuffedin 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 treatedas a prisoner of war, and I demand that we shall all be treated ashuman beings, not as cattle."
The captain laughed brutishly.
"Ha! ha! ha! That is good! Do you think I would treat cattle thatway? They would all be dead before they reached England. No, no, mydear 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 butone 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 andbrought them down with such force on the man's face that he fellheadlong on the deck.
Instantly Allen was surrounded with bayonets.
He was considered dangerous, and had to be forced back into the prisoninclosure.
The vessel set sail, and every day the captain taunted the prisonerswith their captivity, and took every means to make them suffer.
Some days, when the weather was more than ordinarily oppressive, hewould order that no water should be given, and as the food consisted ofsalt pork and bread, or ship's biscuit, it can be well imagined howmuch they all suffered.
After the vessel had been out twenty days one of the prisoners crawledup to Allen and whispered into his ear:
"Can we live much longer like this?"
"I am afraid not."
"Then let us put an end to it."
"How?"
"Will you agree to join us?"
"I cannot answer that until I know what is proposed."
"If you do not want to join, you will not betray us?"
"What do you think of me? Have I ever been a sneak?"
"No, colonel, but the scheme is a desperate one."
"What is it?"
"To seize the ship and then take her into port as a captured vessel."
"How can it be done?"
"Jack--you know Jack, the one who brings us tobacco?"
"Yes; he is a kind-hearted Englishman."
"He isn't English, he is Irish. Now, he will file off these handcuffsand give me the file. By working at every opportunity we can all befree in a few days; then all we have to do is to force our way out andseize the skipper. We will throw him overboard, and kill all whooppose us; then the ship will be ours and we can sell it and divide theprize money."
"My good fellow, we cannot do it."
"Why?"
"If we seized the ship we should have to sink it, for no one wouldpurchase it. But I will not countenance murder."
"It is not murder, it is war."
"War is brutal, I know, but when it comes to seizing a captain on boardhis own vessel and killing him, that is not war, but murder, or piracy."
"Well, you will not betray us?"
"No. Only give me a chance to fight openly and I will do so, but Iwill not kill a man in cold blood."
"But, colonel, you will not interfere with us?"
"No. Only do not tell me anything you are doing."
Allen did not understand that in war all things were justifiable.
He was a gentleman all the way through, and would not fight unless hecould do so honorably.
Whether Jack failed to find the file, or that the prisoners decided notto mutiny, Allen never knew, but no attempt was ever made to securefreedom, and after forty days' torture land was sighted.
The prisoners were ordered on deck.
It was a glorious change for them, for they had not breathed a breathof pure air for forty days.
As they stood on the deck the captain pointed out the distant land.
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"Do you know what land that is?" he asked.
There was no response; the American prisoners were too much engaged ininhaling all the fresh air they could to care about talking.
"That is Land's End, in England. You will soon be there, and then youwill all be hanged. A short life and a wretched one will be yours fromnow on. That is all. Take the prisoners back to their palatialquarters."
The captain may have thought he was inflicting torture on theprisoners, but he was mistaken. They were not afraid of the fate whichawaited them.
If they were to die, they would prefer to die on land to being torturedto death in the hold of a small ship.
As one of the prisoners quoted the words of an older rebel in England:
"The noblest place for man to die Is where he dies for man."
So all felt that if they were to be hanged in England they would betried, and on their trial they would be able to make their defense andlet the world know under what grievances the American colonies weresuffering.
In two days the vessel landed in Falmouth Harbor.
The news that the vessel had on board a number of American prisonerscaused thousands of people to flock to the wharf.
The greatest curiosity was manifested.
Had a cargo of wild beasts entered port the curiosity could not havebeen greater.
In fact, Allen soon learned that the Americans were looked upon as wildbeasts or savages, and certainly not as civilized beings.
The windows were filled with members of the fair sex, the sidewalks ofthe old English town were closely packed by men and children.
Hour after hour they waited to see the show.
A lot of detail, commonly called "red tape," had to be attended tobefore the prisoners were allowed to land.
A military band escorted a regiment of redcoats down to the dock, andthe necessary papers for the transfer of the prisoners were exchanged.
Then across the gangplank walked Ethan Allen and Eben Pike, handcuffedtogether.
The people on the dock pushed and stared at the Green Mountain men.
"Why, they aren't green!" exclaimed one of the bystanders with disgust.
"No, they aren't Americans; they're Irish," said another.
"Of course they're Irish; Americans are black."
"No, red."
"Not by a long shot; they're all as yellow as guineas."
Absurd as it may appear at this day to have to record such ideas, it isan absolute fact that when it was rumored that the Green Mountainheroes were on their way to England the prevalent idea was that theyderived their name from the color of their skin.
When the other prisoners disembarked the march was commenced to thebarracks.
The people flocked round the prisoners so that progress was impeded.
The soldiers had to charge the crowd with bayonets many times.
"What did they mean by saying they thought we were Irish?" asked Eben."I heard an Englishman say in New York that if it had not been for theIrish the Americans would not have rebelled. Of course it wasnonsense, but the people do not know us yet, while they do know theIrish."
At the barracks the prisoners were received with as much curiosity aswe can imagine was shown by Ferdinand and Isabella when Columbuspresented the American Indians in 1492.
Every man was made to answer a lot of questions, and many times over.
Allen was questioned about the strength of the American army, andreplied:
"I know not its numbers, but it is well equipped and can beat all thearmies you can send over there."
"They are rebels, and only the lowest people sympathize with them."
"Do you call George Washington a common man?" asked Allen.
"He is a rebel, and ought to know better."
"And Richard Montgomery, who fought with you at Havana and Martinique?"
"Is he with the rebels?"
"I had the honor of serving under him."
"He will be hanged, for he was a soldier of his majesty."
"You will have to capture him first."
They could not make anything of Allen, so they desisted questioning andsent all the prisoners to the guardroom.
It was a difficult question for the government of England to decide.
The men were locked up in the barracks at Falmouth, but England did notknow what to do with them.
If the prisoners were hanged as rebels, England would be blamed byother civilized nations, and yet it would not do to pardon them.
There was a very powerful opposition among the English people to harshmeasures, and, in fact, many English wished America success in itsstruggle with the tory ministry.
And so Allen and his friends remained in jail, simply because theministry did not know what to do with them.
The Hero of Ticonderoga; or, Ethan Allen and His Green Mountain Boys Page 29