[Under Wellington’s Command by G. A. Henty]@TWC D-Link book
Under Wellington’s Command

CHAPTER 6: Afloat
9/33

The soldiers were kept for two days under arrest.

This morning the governor himself came down to the prison, and the men under arrest were drawn up.

He spoke to them very sharply, to begin with.
"'One or more of you is assuredly concerned in this matter.

A breach of trust of this kind is punishable with death.' "Then he stopped, and looked fiercely up and down the line, and went on in a different tone: "'At the same time, I admit that some allowance is to be made for the crime, and I can understand that as soldiers you felt sympathy with soldiers who, although prisoners at the time, did not hesitate to cast in their lot with you, and to fight side by side with you.
Still, a soldier should never allow private sentiments to interfere with his duty.

I myself should have been glad, when you arrived here and I heard of what had happened, to have been able to place these British officers and soldiers in a ship, and to have sent them back to their own country; but that would have been a breach of my duty, and I was forced to detain them here as prisoners.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books