55 pages • 1 hour read
Geoffrey TreaseCue for Treason
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1940A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Dawn Is Dangerous”
It is 1598, in the reign of Elizabeth I. Peter Brownrigg is 14. He lives in Cumberland, a mountainous region near the border of Scotland. His family is yeomanry: relatively wealthy farmers who own their land, paying tax to the crown instead of rent to a local nobleman. Sir Philip Morton has inherited the local estate and built a wall around a piece of land that has always been “common land”: land the local people are entitled to use to supplement their farming by hunting, fishing, and foraging. Sir Philip claims it is his.
Peter, his father, and his brother sneak out of the cottage in the middle of the night to join the other men from the area. Together, they break down the wall. They plan to collectively deny all knowledge, ensuring Sir Philip can’t blame any individuals. Peter keeps watch. At dawn, Sir Philip arrives with a group of armed horsemen. Everyone flees. Peter throws a stone at Sir Philip. A horseman shoots at Peter, knocking his cap off, but he escapes up the mountain Blencathra.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Escape”
Peter takes the family donkey to the grammar school he attends five miles away. He thinks he’ll go back to get his cap at night; it has his name in it. During the break, he and a friend go swimming in a nearby lake. Peter hears that two officers are at school asking for him, holding his cap. Peter tells the other boys to say they can’t find him and sets off home on the donkey. He knows that the officers will arrest him if they find him. He will face a severe punishment for throwing a stone at a nobleman and he might be tortured for information about who destroyed the wall. His mother and father agree he must flee the area. They give him some money and food. He sets off through the hills towards a nearby market town, Penrith. He hopes to find work with a travelling merchant. He looks back and sees riders arriving at his home.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Peril at Penrith”
Peter hides in the hills in “the Stronghold,” a place with towering cliffs where he and his friends used to play wargames as children: the English against the Spanish or the Scots. Noblemen in the area used to live in fortified towers (peels) because of the frequent Scottish raids; since peace came many have built comfortable houses instead, including Sir Philip. Once night falls, Peter walks to Penrith.
In the morning the town is full of people who have come to ply their wares or perform at the market. A man he knows warns him not to flee to Scotland, as Sir Philip has sent word on those routes to look out for him. Peter unsuccessfully asks merchants for work. A man is advertising a play in the courtyard of an inn and Peter decides to cheer himself by watching. Sir Philip is in the audience and spots Peter, giving chase. Peter flees backstage and finds himself trapped. He hides in an empty chest. He hears Sir Philip threaten the actors if they don’t let him search the area.
Chapter 4 Summary: “There Is Safety in Coffins”
Peter lies in the chest, listening to everything happening outside. The play, Richard II, begins, as Sir Philip and his companion start to search backstage. Two actors, Bob and Ben, pick up the chest and carry it onstage as a prop coffin. By the time they take it off again, Sir Philip has left, having searched backstage. Peter overhears the actors gossiping about him sympathetically: He is wanted for attempted murder and Sir Philip has set guards all over town. After the play, the actors pack everything up. The chest is loaded onto the wagon with Peter still inside. They set off for the next town. Peter plans to jump out once they are some distance away but he falls asleep.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Someone Was Watching”
When Peter wakes, the wagon has halted for the night on the roadside. He emerges, weakened by staying trapped in it for so long. The acting troupe, led by Mr. and Mrs. Desmond, is surprised but kind, and offer him food. Peter feels they are being watched from the surrounding bushes. Mr. Desmond reassures Peter that they will cover for him. He asks for Peter’s help: They are short of boy actors who can sing or play women’s roles. Peter promises to sing for them in their performance tomorrow.
The next morning, they are stopped by four horsemen blocking the road. Mrs. Desmond tells Peter to hide in the wagon, but they insist on searching it. When they find Peter, she and Mr. Desmond pretend he is one of their troupe who keeps hiding to avoid the work. The horsemen apologize and leave—they were actually looking for a girl of the gentry class who has run away from home.
The troupe stage The Two Gentlemen of Verona in the next town. Peter performs his part well, though he feels someone else is watching. Mrs. Desmond likes Shakespeare’s comedies more than his histories. She thinks he’ll never compete with Christopher Marlowe, a playwright famous for his tragedies who was stabbed to death. Mr. Desmond suggests that Peter join the troupe at least for a few months as they tour. After that they’ll head to London for the winter. Desmond says they can worry about that when they get there.
The next day, Peter wakes to find someone threatening him with a knife.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
In this section, Geoffrey Trease establishes the book’s historical and geographical setting, as well as placing it into the adventure genre. He introduces his main themes, his protagonist, and antagonist.
Trease mentions Queen Elizabeth to cement the book’s era, but builds the historical world mostly through his description of Peter’s social context: His family is yeomanry and he attends a grammar school, typical of this period. Peter describes playing English vs. Scottish or Spanish war games as a child, showing that these rivalries are culturally embedded. This moment also underlines the Coming of Age theme by emphasizing how Peter’s rapidly changing circumstances are forcing him to grow up quickly: He is now hiding in the place he used to play in. The idea of invasion, which he treated as a game, foreshadows the serious threat of invasion later in the book. This mention of torture is important in highlighting Peter’s rapid growth: In Chapter 2, he is at school one moment but worrying about being tortured the next. This creates high stakes, underlining the book’s adventure genre. In this first section, Peter moves straight from one predicament to next, creating a fast pace. Trease also builds tension through Peter’s past tense narration, which constantly hints at danger to come. However, this retrospective quality also suggests that he is looking back on his experiences as an adult, allowing Trease to introduce frightening elements, such as torture, with the reassurance that Peter is going to come through the story intact, making the book suitable for readers of all ages.
Trease introduces the theme of The Impact of Social Structures on Individuals: He creates a world in which his protagonists can’t trust any of the official structures, so they have to fend for themselves, raising the stakes and emphasizing the adventure genre. In this section, this theme is largely supported by Sir Philip as the antagonist, using further historical underpinning. Sir Philip’s attempts to claim common land for himself underlines his self-interest and greed to the detriment of ordinary people, setting the scene for his grander ambitions in the later conspiracy. He is also corrupt, threatening to use his connections to have the acting troupe banned. This foreshadows the plot twist later on when Peter and Kit realize the magistrate has been bribed by Sir Philip.
Trease also heightens the stakes through the geographical setting: The mountains of Cumberland create a dramatic backdrop and are a source of both national and regional pride. Peter comments “luckily I knew every inch of this ground, and, though I tumbled twice in the darkness, I knew there was no danger of broken necks along the way” (30). Trease introduces the physical danger of the terrain, but also shows how Peter’s knowledge and love of the area is an important part of his character, helping him defeat the antagonists. Trease uses Peter’s vocabulary to emphasize his deep connection to both this area and to his community: He uses and explains local terms, such as a tarn (lake) or a beck (stream). Trease lays the foundations for the important role of local community: The book opens with everyone coming together to knock down the wall. This ethos is important in Peter’s journey: He is strongly motivated by common good throughout the book and is also helped by his community.
Trease shows that The Power of Theater will be an important theme as it becomes essential to Peter’s story. Playacting is already a source of fun and friendship, as Peter re-enacts scenes for his classmates. After he flees, the theater offers protection, escape, community, and freedom. At the end of this section, Peter successfully completes his first performance and becomes part of the troupe, building the foundation for the central role theater plays in the rest of the story.
This section begins with Peter’s adventures in his own community and region, and ends with him in the unknown territories of touring theater, foreshadowing the increasing pace and jeopardy of the following sections.
