{"id":"01KG8AKGYX2J68ZH1G1Z7ZDDFN","cid":"bafkreibcz6rmzvv2jlqcccy3hucg6l7gqnio2gmrkij6x5dhngtat3d4zi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1364,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.590Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","start_line":1284,"text":"“Were you at Bunker Hill?—that bloody Bunker Hill—eh, eh?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, sir.”\r\n\r\n“Fought like a devil—like a very devil, I suppose?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, sir.”\r\n\r\n“Helped flog—helped flog my soldiers?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, sir; but very sorry to do it.”\r\n\r\n“Eh?—eh?—how’s that?”\r\n\r\n“I took it to be my sad duty, sir.”\r\n\r\n“Very much mistaken—very much mistaken, indeed. Why do ye sir me?—eh?\r\nI’m your king—your king.”\r\n\r\n“Sir,” said Israel firmly, but with deep respect, “I have no king.”\r\n\r\nThe king darted his eye incensedly for a moment; but without quailing,\r\nIsrael, now that all was out, still stood with mute respect before him.\r\nThe king, turning suddenly, walked rapidly away from Israel a moment,\r\nbut presently returning with a less hasty pace, said, “You are rumored\r\nto be a spy—a spy, or something of that sort—ain’t you? But I know you\r\nare not—no, no. You are a runaway prisoner of war, eh? You have sought\r\nthis place to be safe from pursuit, eh? eh? Is it not so?—eh? eh? eh?”\r\n\r\n“Sir, it is.”\r\n\r\n“Well, ye’re an honest rebel—rebel, yes, rebel. Hark ye, hark. Say\r\nnothing of this talk to any one. And hark again. So long as you remain\r\nhere at Kew, I shall see that you are safe—safe.”\r\n\r\n“God bless your Majesty!”\r\n\r\n“Eh?”\r\n\r\n“God bless your noble Majesty?”\r\n\r\n“Come—come—come,” smiled the king in delight, “I thought I could\r\nconquer ye—conquer ye.”\r\n\r\n“Not the king, but the king’s kindness, your Majesty.”\r\n\r\n“Join my army—army.”\r\n\r\nSadly looking down, Israel silently shook his head.\r\n\r\n“You won’t? Well, gravel the walk then—gravel away. Very stubborn\r\nrace—very stubborn race, indeed—very—very—very.”\r\n\r\nAnd still growling, the magnanimous lion departed. How the monarch came\r\nby his knowledge of so humble an exile, whether through that swift\r\ninsight into individual character said to form one of the miraculous\r\nqualities transmitted with a crown, or whether some of the rumors\r\nprevailing outside of the garden had come to his ear, Israel could\r\nnever determine. Very probably, though, the latter was the case,\r\ninasmuch as some vague shadowy report of Israel not being an\r\nEnglishman, had, a little previous to his interview with the king, been\r\ncommunicated to several of the inferior gardeners. Without any\r\nimpeachment of Israel’s fealty to his country, it must still be\r\nnarrated, that from this his familiar audience with George the Third,\r\nhe went away with very favorable views of that monarch. Israel now\r\nthought that it could not be the warm heart of the king, but the cold\r\nheads of his lords in council, that persuaded him so tyrannically to\r\npersecute America. Yet hitherto the precise contrary of this had been\r\nIsrael’s opinion, agreeably to the popular prejudice throughout New\r\nEngland.\r\n\r\nThus we see what strange and powerful magic resides in a crown, and how\r\nsubtly that cheap and easy magnanimity, which in private belongs to\r\nmost kings, may operate on good-natured and unfortunate souls. Indeed,\r\nhad it not been for the peculiar disinterested fidelity of our\r\nadventurer’s patriotism, he would have soon sported the red coat; and\r\nperhaps under the immediate patronage of his royal friend, been\r\nadvanced in time to no mean rank in the army of Britain. Nor in that\r\ncase would we have had to follow him, as at last we shall, through\r\nlong, long years of obscure and penurious wandering.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJHFQP29KQ09WMGVG54R1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKGYXBVDP52B32P0VBB8K","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKGYTEMZNBQBX2JKMMQ74","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:07.133Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:13.728Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}