of cattle afore, and I never lose any, save a few I
toss overboard to save trouble. I'll land these or give an account of
'em."

Every word was uttered with a view of enraging the prisoners.

Allen learned afterward that the provocation was intended and
deliberate, its object being to get him to commit some overt act so
that he could be hanged or shot for insubordination.

The seaman was the captain of a sailing merchantman bound for England,
who had been engaged to transport the Americans to that country.

After a list had been made of the prisoners they were marched off the
_Gaspee_ onto a barge, which was towed out to a merchantman lying in
the bay. Four rowboats were engaged to tow the barge, and just as they
started the hawser broke and the barge was adrift.

After several minor accidents the prisoners were landed on the deck of
the merchantman, and soon found they had exchanged bad for worse.

A portion of the vessel had been boarded off by white oak planks,
making a space about twenty-two feet long by twenty feet wide.

Into this space thirty-four American prisoners were pushed, handcuffed
in pairs.

Allen refused to enter.

The captain asked who he was that he should dare to disobey orders.

"I surrendered to the British under a pledge that I should be treated
as a prisoner of war, and I demand that we shall all be treated as
human beings, not as cattle."

The captain laughed brutishly.

"Ha! ha! ha! That is good! Do you think I would treat cattle that
way? They would all be dead before they reached England. No, no, my
dear rebel! you are treated as rebels, not cattle."

Two seamen took hold of Allen and threw him into the little inclosure,
closing the door as soon as he was within.

An hour later Allen was called out.

A lieutenant had asked to see him.

"So you are Ethan Allen?" the English lieutenant asked.

"That is my name."

"Then, apart from the pleasure I have in seeing you here, I have but
one greater joy, and that is that I am able to treat you like this."

The officer spat in Allen's face.

The Green Mountain hero's hands were manacled, but he raised them and
brought them down with such force on the man's face that he fell
headlong on the deck.

Instantly Allen was surrounded with bayonets.

He was considered dangerous, and had to be forced back into the prison
inclosure.

The vessel set sail, and every day the captain taunted the prisoners
with their captivity, and