ON THE GASPEE.
Never before had English officer been spoken to in that manner by prisoner.
Prescott knew not what to make of it. Had he dared he would have shot Allen on the spot, but he well knew that to do so would be the cause of an investigation into his conduct, and Prescott was guilty of many things which, if sworn to before a court-martial, would have led to his dismissal from the army, if no other punishment was incurred.
So he allowed himself to be led away, but as he went he shook his fist at Allen and shouted:
"I will not hang them just now, but you, you infernal rebel, shall grace a halter at Tyburn."
Even the soldiers shuddered as they heard the threat, for Tyburn was the place, in England, where the most brutal murderers and criminals were hung in chains and allowed to stay there until their flesh rotted from their bones.
To be hung at Tyburn carried with it disgrace throughout all generations.
Gen. Prescott was in a fury; why, it was difficult to say, for Allen had never injured him personally.
"I'll hang that fellow," he reiterated to the colonel of his own regiment.
"My dear Prescott, you will do nothing of the kind; he is a prisoner of war."