court after Rab brings Cilla to court and she testifies that Johnny showed her his cup before the burglary ever took place. Johnny settles into a job delivering a weekly newspaper, the Boston Observer. The Observer is a Whig publication, and Johnny is introduced to the larger world of pre-revolutionary Boston politics by Rab. Johnny learns to ride and care for Goblin, a beautiful but skittish horse used to make deliveries. He moves in with Rab in the attic of the newspaper's shop. As months pass and tension between Whigs and Tories rises, Johnny becomes a dedicated Whig. He matures and re-evaluates many personal relationships, including that with Cilla, who becomes a trusted friend and fellow Whig. Johnny and Rab participate in the Boston Tea Party, in which patriot colonists throw a shipload of tea into the harbor rather than allow the ship's owner to unload the tea and pay a tax imposed by Parliament without the consent of the people of Britain's American colonies. In retaliation, Britain sends an army of Redcoats to occupy Boston and closes the port, inflicting hardship upon the inhabitants of this commercial and trading town. Rab decides to leave the Observer and become a soldier, taking with him a musket that Johnny acquired for him. At the end of the book, Johnny meets and talks briefly with his friend one last time: Facing the British, Rab is mortally wounded in battle. No longer needing the musket, Rab returns it to Johnny with a stoic smile. A Patriot doctor offers to perform surgery to fix Johnny's hand so he can fire the gun against the Redcoats, and the story ends with Johnny's acceptance of the offer. Characters The novel features both fictional and historical characters. Fictional Johnny Tremain: The story's protagonist. Born Jonathan Lyte Tremain, he is a likable but cocky young teenager, a talented apprentice silversmith indentured at the age of 12 to Ephraim Lapham for seven years. Johnny was born in a convent in France. He returned with his mother Lavinia "Vinny" Lyte Tremain to Townsend, Maine, when she was certain she would no longer be recognized as a Lyte. Because his right hand is badly injured by molten silver, he is forced to seek another trade. Rab Silsbee: Johnny's first true friend and role model. He is two years older than Johnny, taller, more mature, resourceful, brave, and admired, especially by Johnny.