Chapter 2: The Meeting and the Party

Sarah

We have docked in a city called Boston in the colony of Massachusetts. It looks to be friendly sort of place for now. I do hope the gentlemen from Dr. Franklin's print shop will be here soon to retrieve me. I wish to get to my new home as soon as possible. I dislike this feeling of having no place to go except the Dartmouth.

I am standing on the deck of the Dartmouth looking at the city. All of a sudden, I hear men shouting. I stand on my toes to see where they are and I see a group of men wearing feathers. INDIANS! Friends of mine in England told me that America was wild and full of Indians. I never expected this when I arrived here!

They are heading straight for the Dartmouth! I go below decks to hide and pray that they don't find me and kidnap me.

James

We arrive in Boston at 7 o'clock at night. We have been on the road for two weeks already. I want to go home. I never wanted to come on this trip anyway. I hope I can at least find a story to write about.

Wishes do come true after all! I wished for a story and I got one! Men dressed as Indians are heading for the docks. Why are they heading there? What are they up to? Moses chirrups to Caesar and we follow them. They lead us to Boston Harbor and board a ship that has recently come from England. We follow in a boat Moses has borrowed. We all climb aboard and find out what is going on.

The people of Boston are protesting the high cost of tea by dumping it into the harbor. I head below decks to see if anything is going on there.

Sarah

I am hiding behind a barrel waiting for the waiting for the shouting to stop and for the Indians to go away. As frightened as I was to come to America in the first place, I am now wishing that I had never come. I can hear footsteps on the stairs. I crawl towards them with my journal in a pillowcase, ready to use it as a weapon should I need it. The stranger comes to the bottom of the stairs and I swing my weapon.

James

THUNK! One minute I am coming down the stairs of the Dartmouth and the next I am staring at the ceiling. My forehead feels like someone hit me with a club. I am lightheaded as I sit up.

"What hit me?" I mumble. Suddenly there is a girl standing before me. Why is there a girl on a ship? She is looking at me like she'd rather kill me than let me stand up.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" the girl shouts. Her green eyes are shooting daggers at me.

"Take you? Where?"

"Wherever Indians take people!"

"I'm not no Indian. None of us are!"

"You're not AN Indian. Who taught you grammar?"

Who does this girl think she is? What a snoot! And what a temper! "Just tell me your name will you?"

"Philips. Miss Sarah Philips of London, England."

This snooty, rude, feisty girl is our Miss Philips? What have we gotten ourselves into by allowing this girl to come to Philadelphia with us?

Sarah

This uneducated, rude boy works for Dr. Franklin? This is who he sent to bring me to Philadelphia? Mr. Hiller is the furthest thing from a gentleman. Suddenly, there are more footsteps on the stairs and an African man appears. He must work with Dr. Franklin because he approaches me and asks if I am Miss Philips.

The men seem anxious to get off the ship before British soldiers arrive and the next thing I know, Mr. Hiller has a hold of my wrists and is leading me towards the stairs. "Let me go!" I shout. He doesn't. He starts dragging me up the stairs, which seems a difficult thing for such a scrawny boy. We are almost to the gangplank when a British soldier approaches and tries to restrain me. What a rude welcome to a new country! Is there no safe haven for a young lady anymore? Does the air in America turn any man into a savage?

The soldier loses his balance and falls into the water and we run to meet the others. I can see my bag in their carriage. One of them must have grabbed it for me. We all pile in and head for shelter. I mention to James (calling him Mr. Hiller seems strange when he is younger than me) that I am cold. He removes his jacket and covers myself and the boy named Henri with it. There may be hope for him becoming a gentleman after all.