shoot so well with the bow or the rifle. I carried him on my back to
his home, he urging me on as if I had been a battle horse and when we
were come to the house, he ran about doing his chores. I helped him,
and, our work accomplished, we went down to the river for a swim, and
to my surprise, I found him a well taught fish. We became friends and
always when I have thought of him, the words Happy Face have come to
me. It was, I think, a better nickname than 'Boiling Water,' although
there was much propriety in the latter. I knew that his energy given
to labor would accomplish much and when I left him, I repeated the
words which my father had often quoted in my hearing:

"'Seest thou a man diligent in his calling? He shall stand before
kings.'"

This glimpse of John Irons, Jr.--familiarly known as Jack Irons--is
from a letter of Benjamin Franklin to his wife.

Nothing further is recorded of his boyhood until, about eight years
later, what was known as the "Horse Valley Adventure" occurred. A full
account of it follows with due regard for background and color:

"It was the season o' the great moon," said old Solomon Binkus, scout
and interpreter, as he leaned over the camp-fire and flicked a coal out
of the ashes with his forefinger and twiddled it up to his pipe bowl.
In the army he was known as "old Solomon Binkus," not by reason of his
age, for he was only about thirty-eight, but as a mark of deference.
Those who followed him in the bush had a faith in his wisdom that was
childlike. "I had had my feet in a pair o' sieves walkin' the white
sea a fortnight," he went on. "The dry water were six foot on the
level, er mebbe more, an' some o' the waves up to the tree-tops, an'