"Certainly. He will die at sunrise."
"Explain yourself. Who has adjudged him worthy of death?" asked Vernon earnestly.
"We are at war?"
"Certainly. This is admitted, or I should not have been thanked by the President for the captures I have made on the high seas."
Ignoring the latter part of Vernon's speech, the officer continued:
"Then being at war, an assault on an officer while on duty is an assault on the nation, and that is treason, and the punishment of treason is death."
"But the courts——"
"May say Bob was innocent, and his family will have that gratification, but he will be dead."
"Why so?"