"I heard that officer, who came aboard with dispatches, say that there was a lot of the patriots close here."
"Of our people?"
"Yes."
"That accounts for it, then. They will hang the prisoners as an act of defiance."
"Colonel, I have an idea."
"What is it, Eben?"
"Come closer to me, for I must whisper very softly."
Eben managed so that his mouth was very close to Allen's ear, and then he told of his plan.
"I can slip over into the water when it is quite dark and swim to land; then I can make my way to the patriots and tell them the straits we are in."
"You could not reach the land."