Johnny Tremain Page #5

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Good day, doctor.

Good day, sir.

You reaIize, doctor, this means

that I must enforce my orders?

I do, sir.

We have our duty.

We cannot deny you yours.

[man] 'Ware coach!

Ah, come in, my boy. Come in.

DeIightfuI weather we're having.

Yes, sir.

This way.

See to it we're not disturbed.

WeII, sit down, my boy, sit down.

Johnny,

I've decided to go back to EngIand.

Boston is no pIace for a merchant now.

The government in the hands

of the miIitary, the port cIosed,

trade at a standstiII, and more soIdiers

than civiIians on the streets.

It's a sorry situation, isn't it?

Yes, sir. Why doesn't GeneraI Gage

take his redcoats home?

But you don't understand.

Boston must first accept responsibiIity

for the tea she destroyed.

Why? We didn't ask for the tea.

The Ministry forced it on us.

That has nothing to do with it!

Do you know that

a group of IoyaI merchants,

myseIf amongst them,

offered to pay out of their own pockets

the 1 8,000 in damages

the Ministry demands for the tea?

- Yes, sir.

- And do you know that

the poIiticaI Ieaders of Boston

have repeatedIy refused

this generous soIution to the pIight

of the town and its peopIe?

- Yes, sir.

- Then can you sit there

and teII me that such Ieaders

work in the pubIic interest?

Yes, we can't give up our principIes.

PrincipIes! Huh!

What do beardIess boys Iike you,

or traitors Iike Sam Adams

and his kind, know of principIes?

They're trying to stir the coIony

to defiance of Crown and Ministry aIike!

- They're not.

- Then what are they doing?

Defending our Iiberties.

Every EngIishman has that right.

You parroting young popinjay!

I didn't send for you

to hear a poIiticaI Iecture!

Why did you send for me?

To make an offer I now reaIize I wouId

have regretted for the rest of my Iife.

I've been at pains to investigate

your cIaim of reIationship to me.

I was wiIIing to grant you might indeed

be my dead sister's son.

I'd intended to take you to EngIand

with me,

and try and make a gentIeman of you.

You wouId have wasted your time, sir.

I wouId never Ieave Boston.

I warn you, Iad.

When the hangman comes

for your rebeI friends,

there'II be no one

to whom you can turn.

Then I'II hang with them.

This cup means more to you

than it ever wiII to me.

Dr. Warren,

Mr. Adams and Mr. Revere

are upstairs making pIans right now.

I've sent for aII of you

because they need heIp.

What can we do?

They think GeneraI Gage

is going to make a move soon.

They have to know what he pIans

to do before he does it.

That's where you come in.

Watch the GeneraI's headquarters

and the redcoats

- and report everything they do and say.

- What about you?

Some of us are oId enough to carry guns.

Captain Parker out in Lexington

is my cousin.

He wants us to join his Minutemen

when the redcoats move.

Wait, you're not gonna Ieave me

out of that?

There's pIenty for you to do here,

Johnny.

You watch the redcoats biIIeted

on the street across the way.

Dorcas, you and the Hitchbourn boys

watch the camps on the common.

Don't take it so hard. I'm gIad

you're not going to Lexington.

I Iike it better with you here.

I can carry a gun as weII as he can.

I've been thinking.

A Iot of redcoats

are biIIeted at the Green Dragon.

I can get a job in the kitchen

and pick up things whiIe I'm serving.

I don't want you hanging around

a Iot of redcoats.

That's what we're supposed to do.

AII of us.

I want you where I can keep an eye

on you whiIe you're watching them.

CoIoneI Smith and his staff

are quartered at the Afric Queen.

That's a better pIace for you.

AII right, Johnny.

[Man] You doddering oId fooI.

Three weeks is enough to make

campaign fIasks for the regiment.

AII I wanted was my oId one repaired.

- I'm sorry, in a day or two...

- A day or two!

I saiI on the morning tide

and I want my fIask.

Pardon, sir. Has the port been re-opened

so ships may saiI from Boston again?

What business is it of yours?

I thought Mr Lapham might

send your fIask on another ship.

I go by miIitary transport.

There'II be no ships...

Maybe he can send it on by me.

I deIiver newspapers

to most of the nearby towns...

You don't deIiver newspapers

to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

- It worked!

- It worked!

- Dr. Warren stiII here?

- What's up?

I don't know. Maybe nothing.

What's the matter?

The redcoats after you?

- They're after something.

- What do you mean?

An officer toId me he's saiIing on a

troop transport to Portsmouth tomorrow.

HardIy the move we expected from Gage.

But a shrewd one. Look. Portsmouth

Committee reports Crown munitions

stored at Fort WiIIiam and Mary.

and the garrison badIy undermanned.

The Committee thinks

the fort couId be taken.

ApparentIy,

GeneraI Gage thinks so too.

We couId use

those arms and powder.

I'II be in Portsmouth before

the transport cIears Boston Harbor.

Good evening, Mr. Revere.

Not much traffic these nights,

eh, boys?

Nor daytime either.

- It's a dead town, that's a fact.

- How wouId cider go with your rations?

We've not forgot

the Iast jug you brought us.

I have a cousin in MiIton.

He'II have one I can bring back.

A good ride to you!

There goes one provinciaI

who sits his horse Iike a gentIeman.

Aye, and aIways

as fast as he can go.

I reckon he's

the IiveIiest man in Boston.

''After securing the keys to the armory,

the provinciaIs carried off

97 kegs of powder,

and 1 1 0 stands of smaII arms.

Their whereabouts are unknown.''

''I have the honor to be,

etc, Henry Green,

Lieutenant Commanding Officer,

Fort WiIIiam and Mary.''

The impudence of these

gawking Yankee DoodIes!

Their impudence does not disturb me

so much as the situation.

With arms and powder,

they can offer a forcibIe resistance.

They're certain to do so if the Ministry

insists on pressing them too far.

They've been storing munitions

in viIIages aII around Boston.

In my opinion, sir, we must confiscate

these contraband stores at once.

I quite agree.

But no bIood has been shed

by my command thus far,

and I am determined none shaII be shed.

None wiII be, sir.

If I may have a smaII, picked force,

a detachment of grenadier

and Iight infantry from each regiment,

- I wiII undertake the matter.

- But if you meet with resistance?

There wiII be no resistance.

We are not deaIing with

a professionaI army, Major.

They are farmers and mechanics

who spend a few hours each week

pIaying soIdiers on the green.

If we can move at night

with the utmost secrecy,

we'II be back in Boston

with their precious munitions

before they can summon

a dozen of their men from their beds.

Very weII, CoIoneI.

You may have your picked force.

And pray God we are right.

Put your back into it, boy.

You'II never get a shine on him.

- CoIoneI Iikes his horsefIesh.

- Not this oId nag, he don't.

He hasn't had a saddIe

on him aII spring.

WeII, he may any day.

And the beast has got to be fit.

- The CoIoneI rides his parade horse.

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