importance of a spy network in johnny tremain

All over, men are casting their own bullets from scarce lead. Johnny gives the musket to Rab as a gift. Pumpkin some farmer's clothes and a way to escape to the countryside in exchange for his musket. He confides to Johnny that many of the British are Whigs and that his dream is to live in America as a farmer. It finally stops at the Lyte's residence where Johnny encounters Mr. Pumpkin, the British part-time worker at the Lyte's stable, who mouths the word 'spurs.' So Johnny digs his spurs into Goblin and the horse runs off in fear. One day, while Johnny is leading Goblin past the Common, a British officer stops him and confiscates the Boston Observer. Johnny is puzzled because when they are riding, Lieutenant Stranger treats him like an equal, but any other time, he plays the part of the superior British officer.

When Lieutenant Stranger sees Johnny with the horse, he takes the boy for a lesson in jumping. As Dove is asleep, Johnny has to do the job for him. Before being induced to sleep by the alcohol, he lets the boys know that Colonel Smith wants his war-horse saddled by four-thirty. He admits that he is tired of being picked on by the British, and that Rab and Johnny are the best friends he has ever had. So even as he brags about being pro-British, it only takes some brandy to get him to reveal his true emotions. Dove has no friends-Yankee boys hate him because he works for the British the British mistreat him for being incompetent. Johnny later hears that American forces ransacked the storehouse before British reinforcements could arrive.ĭove makes a habit of coming over to the Boston Observer office to hang out with the boys. Johnny tells Paul Revere, who rides horseback to seize this opportunity by warning the colonists. From the letters, Johnny finds out that Lieutenant Stranger will be going to Portsmouth to protect a storehouse of powder and ball. One day, Lydia, the laundress at the Afric Queen, gives Johnny torn pieces of letters written by Lieutenant Stranger addressed to Miss Lavinia Lyte. Johnny is to watch over the Tenth Regiment stationed at the Afric Queen. These artisans meet secretly at the Green Dragon, an inn owned by the Masons. That fall, Paul Revere organizes a spy system where thirty artisans take charge of apprentices, friends, and friends of friends, making up a network of eyes to scrutinize every movement of the British troops.

Johnny Tremain Chapter 9, The Scarlet Deluge

Importance of a spy network in johnny tremain