Thirteen-year-old Jonathan is daydreaming about the military. His brother is a soldier with General Washington and his cousin (not very long ago) joined a military unit. When will his father let him join? After all, he is thirteen. But his father was wounded by gunshot to the leg in a recent fight. He is having a very hard time getting around so Jonathan is needed at home. The bell in the town's tavern just rang it is a call to arms. Jonathan eyes his father's flintlock gun and touches its shiny butt. Jonathan's (serving or acting to prevent harm) father sees the fear in his father's eyes and tells him to go inside. Jonathan takes the look in his father's eyes as a form of weakness and fear.
Pages 16 to 28
The tavern keeper gives Jonathan a flintlock gun older …show more content…
They are being drenched by the heavy rain pouring down. The young soldier finds a large pine tree with a dry spot underneath. The soldiers and Jonathan sit down in the shelter to wait out the rain. Jonathan is fearing for his life. The rain is becoming lighter but the daylight is fading. Jonathan (figures out the worth, amount, or quality of) the three Hessians. The oldest one worries Jonathan the most with his tense manner and large mustache. The tall one is menacing because of his size and the scar on his cheek. The youngest one seems the least threatening.
Pages 77 through 89 Summary
The Germans force Jonathan to knock on the door of the small house. Slowly, after there is no response to his knocks, Jonathan pushes the door open. It is a one-room house with a dirt-floor. No one is there. The way it looks, it was left alone rather suddenly. Jonathan, through sign language, tells the young soldier he can milk the cow so they can have milk to drink. Jonathan goes looking for a bucket in a nearby shed. When he opens the shed's door, there is a child sitting on the ground there.
Pages 90 through 102