Johny listened to hot, angry talk in the cold meetinghouse. The King had ordered his navy to capture American ships. He hired thirty thousand German soldiers called Hessians to put down the rebellious colonists. "We'll have independence!" the men shouted. Johnny heard other talk: There were Tory rumors that Pa had turned trator and sailed to England. As Johnny thumped down a load of firewood, Ma scrubbed the kitchen floor furiously, as if the Tory gossipers and King George himself were beneath her scrub brush.