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"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.
