Tim and the Highway Robbery — Roddy Thorleifson

Tim Euston finds a dead body and, while he and his friend Dan suspect each other of murder and treason, they stumble upon two renegade redcoats who draw them into a dangerous plot to steal highly valuable munitions off of a British army base. It was May 1777, the beginning of the third year of the American War for Independence. Yonkers, New York was in a territory controlled by the tory allies of the British. In the back of a general store Tim (age seventeen) expected to find his little sister Sadie at work. Instead he found a dead man. Then the proprietor burst in, accusing Tim of murder. Tim escaped, went to a loyalist Justice of the Peace and told him that the dead man was a rebel spy. He had actually never seen the dead man before but claimed that a man had pointed him out in the city. As well, Tim claimed the dying man had said “Sam Baker,” and pointed. Tim said he then turned and saw a man poke his face through the door. The Justice was now eager, hoping that Tim might see this man's face again and help capture him. Tim's lies to the Justice had got him off but now he served a prominent loyalist, an odd position for someone who had recently been spying for the real Sam Baker, an officer in America's Continental Army. Tim and a friend named Dan had assisted Sam Baker, and both were eager to escape their masters, cross over to New Jersey, and join the Continental Army. Sam was going to vouch for their loyalty but it had been a while since they had seen him and they were getting impatient. Tim was on his wagon when he met Dan on the road. Dan was drunk and showed off a pair of pocket pistols he said he had won at cards. They spoke of the murder in Yonkers and both said things that made the other wonder whether he had a hand in it and that maybe he was involved with the British as well. But these suspicions were forgotten when they found themselves in front of two redcoat soldiers. Dan impulsively pulled out his pistols and ordered their hands up. Dan said that he and Tim could take them across the river as prisoners to demonstrate their potential for soldiers. But while Tim was stealing a boat, the prisoners convinced Dan that they had been planning on deserting and joining the rebel army, themselves. The renegades said there was a better way for the four of them to impress their future commanders. They could seize three crates of cartridge boxes from the British storehouse where they worked. The Continental Army was in dire need of these articles (historical fact.) To get them they only needed forged papers, a wagon and a boat. Tim's sister Sadie could write like a British officer and an official-looking seal could be bought. All went well until Tim and Sadie rode up to the warehouse to collect the crates. Their friends had been called away and their replacement looked too smart to fool. Tim lost his nerve and told the man that the letter looked suspicious, and said he had been hired in the city by a stranger. They went to an officer, who decided to lay a trap with three false crates. After they left with Tim, the renegades told another officer they had taken the wrong crates. He ordered the cartridge boxes loaded and set off after them. At a corner the wagon rolled and the officer broke his leg. The renegades had the crates, a high-value hostage, and Sadie who had hopped on and hidden under a blanket. They could wait by the river while one went for Tim, Dan and a boat.