ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the story of the capture, trial, and execution of a Hessian drummer boy by Americans during the Revolution. At the heart of the story is a Quaker family, who hide the boy after his landing party has been killed in an ambush. The story is told from the point of view of Evan Feversham, a doctor who has seen enough of death, and an outsider in the narrow world of Puritan New England. General Packenham had announced, he would deliver the verdict. The crowd had emptied out of the inn and had gone off to work or home or food or to wherever their need was, for while the verdict was still to come, no one had any question as to what it might be. Sally and Jacob Heather sat in the wagon, their backs straight, their faces set, aware that they were the focus for every pair of eyes in the crowd.
