The chapter opens where the last one left off: James's friends try to keep the newspaper alive by using Benjamin's name while hiding the real indenture papers. A new fight with James pushes Benjamin to claim his freedom unfairly, using the secret papers as proof. When James blocks him from every print shop in Boston, Benjamin decides he must leave. His father sides with James, so he slips away in secret with help from his friend Collins, who invents a cover story about a pregnant girl. Benjamin sells books for travel money and lands in New York at seventeen with almost nothing.
A printer in New York sends him on to Philadelphia. The rest of the trip is brutal. A storm tears the boat's sails. Benjamin saves a drunk passenger, walks through rain while people suspect he is a runaway servant, and arrives dirty, sick, and hungry with his shirts stuffed in his pockets. He buys too much bread, eats a roll on the street while Deborah Read watches from her doorstep, falls asleep in a Quaker meeting, and finally finds work with the printer David Keimer. Keimer is disorganized, and Bradford, the other printer in town, is not much better, but Benjamin starts building a life one small job at a time. He also prints a few small jobs and learns how rough the trade can be in a new city. He sleeps on the floor at first, borrows money to eat, and keeps his head up even when he looks like a servant on the road.
Governor Keith crosses the street to meet him, flatters him, and promises to fund his own print shop. Benjamin believes the powerful man completely. He returns to Boston to show his success, but his brother James receives him coldly. His father reads Keith's glowing letter and refuses to back the plan, saying Benjamin is too young to run a business. Still, his parents let him go back to Philadelphia. On the return trip he meets Collins again, now drinking heavily, and spends entrusted money from a man named Vernon to cover Collins's borrowing. A Quaker woman on the boat warns him about two traveling companions, and he is glad he listened when they are later caught stealing.
Back in Philadelphia, Keith urges Benjamin toward London with letters and promises that sound solid. Benjamin courts Deborah Read, but her mother delays marriage because he is leaving. He makes more mistakes with money and friendship, including throwing Collins into the Delaware during a quarrel. He also tries a strict vegetarian diet with Keimer that ends when Keimer eats a whole roast pig before his guests arrive. By the end he is preparing to sail, trusting Keith's word, not yet knowing the promises are empty and that London will test him harder than Boston ever did.
Coming Up in Chapter 3
Franklin boards a ship for London, carrying what he believes is a letter of credit from Governor Keith that will fund his entire future. When he finally opens the packet at sea, what he finds changes everything. The question is not just what the letter says, but how a young man rebuilds when the most powerful person he trusted turns out to be a fraud.
