Toliver's Secret

Looking at the boat’s mast makes Ellen think of the gallows she or her grandfather might face if she’s caught. She starts to cry, and Higgins consoles her. Dow begins to disparage Washington’s army, calling them “rag-tag” and “cowards.” Ellen defends Washington’s men. Some men discuss tossing Ellen overboard, but Higgins begins a group song to distract them. Ellen grows bold enough to look around New York Bay, observing Staten Island and New Jersey.

Dow continues to intimidate Ellen, and Higgins encourages her to stand up to him, calling Dow a bully.

When Ellen gets off the boat and cannot find Shannon’s Jolly Fox Tavern, she realizes she’s in Amboy, over 10 miles south of Elizabeth. She sees Scottish Highlanders and German Hessians. She tries to hire a stagecoach at the local inn, but an old man tells her they’ve all been commandeered by the British army. 

Ellen tries to hire the old man to take her to Elizabeth in his wagon, but it’s in the opposite direction from his house. Ellen says she’ll walk in hopes someone will pick her up on the road, but the old man says the war has made folks untrusting.