The story starts out at the Meeker family's tavern and house in Redding, Connecticut the start of the Revolution. In the tavern there are many men talking about the British troops being defeated in Massachusetts, one of the men there is Sam, Tim's brother. Sam is a Patriot that wishes to go out in battle to defeat the Lobsterbacks. Sam's father Eliphalet, also called Life, is a Loyalist that absol

utely abhors the idea of his son dropping out of college to go to battle to fight the King's men. The two of them have a very heated argument and after a bit they decide to change the subject even though neither of them has changed their minds about judgment about each other's opinion. After a while Tim has to go and do his daily chores which includes milking their cow, Old Pru, and he asks Sam to go out and help him. While Tim is doing his farm duties he asks Sam how college life is and what he is doing back home. Sam says that the reason he is there is a secret and that he'll tell him only if he promises not to tell their parents. Not wanting to hurt either his parents or his brother Tim is hesitant, but decides to hear the secret. Sam says that he is home in hopes that he will get the family's gun, Brown Bess. The next morning Sam tries to steal the Brown Bess and his father catches him. Life and Sam get into an immense argument about weather Sam is going to go and fight the British or not. Finally Life flies into a rage and kicks Sam out of the house. On Sunday, while the rest of the family is at church Sam goes back to the tavern and steals the gun. A bit later in the novel the Patriots passed through their town going door to door taking peoples weapons and food stuffs. When they eventually got to the Meeker's tavern they demanded Life for the Brown Bess. When Eliphalet said that Sam stole the gun, the Patriots did not believe him because it was Loyal territory. They threatened to kill Life if he didn't turn the gun over to them. Tim, who was worried about his father, ran out to get one of the colonels of the Patriots since Sam was a rebel he thought that he might be able to help. On his way to get the colonel he found Sam sleeping with the gun tucked under his arm. Tim decided to snatch the Brown Bess from Sam, and just as he was half-way back to the tavern Sam had woken up and was yelling at Tim to stop. Sam would not stop running back to his father, but since Sam is bigger than he is he catches up to Tim just as he was almost there. Tim eventually got back to the tavern and Sam reluctantly went along to check on their father. He was all right, only a little battered around. Sam ran away from the tavern and just as he was far enough away from Life and Tim waved good-bye to them and left. Seasons pass; fall gives way to the unfriendly Winter and that is the time of the year when the Meeker family exchanges cattle for money in Verplanks, a town near the Hudson River. When they are approximately to their destination they come across some cowboys that are cattle thiefs that say they are Pa

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sam Tim, Tim Verplanks, Soon British, Pennsylvania Tim, Tim Meeker, Pru Sam, Finally Life, Life Loyalist, Susannah Life's, Tim Tim, brown bess, british troops, sam ran, father sam, tavern sam, found sam, tim tim, prison tim, tries steal, finally life,
Approximate Word count = 1760
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)