"I may do so; what then?"
"Then I shall order you into arrest."
"And take me by force to Concord, and from thence to Albany?"
"If the governor so orders."
"Then go straight back to the governor and tell him that, with all due respect to him and his authority, I will not go until I am ready, and that if you attempt to arrest me I shall resist by force. I am a free man, and by the grant signed by the governor I am free from arrest unless the local tribunal so orders, and you cannot get any justice in all the Green Mountains to order me into arrest. So go back and learn that Ethan Allen can take care of himself."
"But that is treason."
"Call it what you like. I shall defend myself when the time comes, and will never submit to tyranny, even from the governor of New Hampshire, nor the king himself."
"But I must do as I am bade."
"Try to do so, you mean. Let me tell you that Ethan Allen is in the right, and the governor is in the wrong, and I defy you and all the power at your back."