They could not make anything of Allen, so they desisted questioning and sent 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 not know what to do with them.
If the prisoners were hanged as rebels, England would be blamed by other civilized nations, and yet it would not do to pardon them.
There was a very powerful opposition among the English people to harsh measures, and, in fact, many English wished America success in its struggle with the tory ministry.
And so Allen and his friends remained in jail, simply because the ministry did not know what to do with them.
CHAPTER XXX.
IRISH HOSPITALITY.
Some months later the ministry decided to deport the American prisoners, and the captain of the Solebay, man-of-war, was ordered to take the prisoners back to America under sealed orders.