In the Days of Poor Richard
CHAPTER XXII
THE BINKUSSING OF COLONEL BURLEY
Solomon had been hit in the thigh by a rifle bullet on his way to thefort. He and Jack and other wounded men were conveyed in boats andlitters to the hospital at Albany where Jack remained until the leaveswere gone. Solomon recovered more quickly and was with Lincoln'smilitia under Colonel Brown when they joined Johnson's Rangers atTiconderoga and cut off the supplies of the British army. Later havinggot around the lines of the enemy with this intelligence he had a partin the fighting on Bemus Heights and the Stillwater and saw thedefeated British army under Burgoyne marching eastward in disgrace tobe conveyed back to England.
Jack had recovered and was at home when Solomon arrived in Albany withthe news.
"Wal, my son, I cocalate they's goin' to be a weddin' in our fam'lyafore long," said the latter.
"What makes you think so?" Jack inquired.
"'Cause John Burgoyne, High Cockylorum and Cockydoodledo, an' all hisarmy has been licked an' kicked an' started fer hum an' made to promisethat they won't be sassy no more. I tell ye the war is goin' to end.They'll see that it won't pay to keep it up."
"But you do not know that Howe has taken Philadelphia," said Jack."His army entered it on the twenty-sixth of September. Washington isin a bad fix. You and I have been ordered to report to him at WhiteMarsh as soon as possible."
"That ol' King 'ud keep us fightin' fer years if he had his way," saidSolomon. "He don't have to bleed an' groan an' die in the swamps likethem English boys have been doin'. It's too bad but we got to keepkillin' 'em, an' when the bad news reaches the good folks over tharmebbe the King'll git spoke to proper. We got to keep a-goin'. Ferthe fust time in my life I'm glad to git erway from the big bush. TheInjuns have found us a purty tough bit o' fodder but they's no tellin',out thar in the wilderness, when a man is goin' to be roasted andchawed up."
Solomon spent a part of the evening at play with the Little Cricket andthe other children and when the young ones had gone to bed, went outfor a walk with "Mis' Scott" on the river-front.
Mrs. Irons had said of the latter that she was a most amiable anduseful person.
"The Little Cricket has won our hearts," she added. "We love him as welove our own."
When Jack and Solomon were setting out in a hired sloop for theHighlands next morning there were tears in the dark eyes of "Mis'Scott."
"Ain't she a likely womern?" Solomon asked again when with sails spreadthey had begun to cut the water.
Near King's Ferry in the Highlands on the Hudson they spent a night inthe camp of the army under Putnam. There they heard the first note ofdiscontent with the work of their beloved Washington. It came from thelips of one Colonel Burley of a Connecticut regiment. TheCommander-in-Chief had lost Newport, New York and Philadelphia and beendefeated on Long Island and in two pitched battles on ground of his ownchoosing at Brandywine and Germantown.
The two scouts were angry.
It had been a cold, wet afternoon and they, with others, were dryingthemselves around a big, open fire of logs in front of the camppost-office.
Solomon was quick to answer the complaint of Burley.
"He's allus been fightin' a bigger force o' well trained, well paid menthat had plenty to eat an' drink an' wear. An' he's fit 'em with jesta shoe string o' an army. When it come to him, it didn't know nothin'but how to shoot an' dig a hole in the ground. The men wouldn't enlistfer more'n six months an' as soon as they'd learnt suthin', they putfer hum. An' with that kind o' an army, he druv the British out o'Boston. With a leetle bunch o' five thousand unpaid, barefoot, raggedbacked devils, he druv the British out o' Jersey an' they had twelvethousan' men in that neighborhood. He's had to dodge eround an' haskep' his army from bein' et up, hide, horns an' taller, by the power o'his brain. He's managed to take keer o' himself down thar in Jerseyan' Pennsylvaney with the British on all sides o' him, while the bestfighters he had come up here to help Gates. I don't see how he could'a' done it--damned if I do--without the help o' God."
"Gates is a real general," Burley answered. "Washington don't amountto a hill o' beans."
Solomon turned quickly and advanced upon Burley. "I didn't 'spect tofind an enemy o' my kentry in this 'ere camp," he said in a quiet tone."Ye got to take that back, mister, an' do it prompt, er ye're goin' tobe all mussed up."
"Ye could see the ha'r begin to brustle under his coat," Solomon waswont to say of Burley, in speaking of that moment. "He stepped up clusan' growled an' showed his teeth an' then he begun to git rooined."
Burley had kept a public house for sailors at New Haven and had had thereputation of being a bad man in a quarrel. Of just what happenedthere is a full account in a little army journal of that time called_The Camp Gazette_. Burley aimed a blow at Solomon with his fist.Then as Solomon used to put it, "the water bu'st through the dam." Itwas his way of describing the swift and decisive action which wascrowded into the next minute. He seized Burley and hurled him to theground. With one hand on the nape of his neck and the other on theseat of his trousers, Solomon lifted his enemy above his head andquoited him over the tent top.
Burley picked himself up and having lost his head drew his hanger, and,like a mad bull, rushed at Solomon. Suddenly he found his way barredby Jack.
"Would you try to run a man through before he can draw?" the latterasked.
Solomon's old sword flashed out of its scabbard.
"Let him come on," he shouted. "I'm more to hum with a hanger than Ibe with good vittles."
Of all the words on record from the lips of this man, these are themost immodest, but it should be remembered that when he spoke them hisblood was hot.
Jack gave way and the two came together with a clash of steel. A crowdhad gathered about them and was increasing rapidly. They had beenfighting for half a moment around the fire when Solomon broke the bladeof his adversary. The latter drew his pistol! Before he could raiseit Solomon had fired his own weapon. Burley's pistol dropped on theground. Instantly its owner reeled and fell beside it. The battlewhich had lasted no more than a minute had come to its end. There hadbeen three kinds of fighting in that lively duel.
Solomon's voice trembled when he cried out:
"Ary man who says a word ag'in' the Great Father is goin' to git mussedup."
He pushed his way through the crowd which had gathered around thewounded man.
"Let me bind his arm," he said.
But a surgeon had stood in the crowd. He was then doing what he couldfor the shattered member of the hot-headed Colonel Burley. Jack washelping him. Some men arrived with a litter and the unfortunateofficer was quickly on his way to the hospital.
Jack and Solomon set out for headquarters. They met Putnam and twoofficers hurrying toward the scene of the encounter. Solomon hadfought in the bush with him. Twenty years before they had been friendsand comrades. Solomon saluted and stopped the grizzled hero of many agreat adventure.
"Binkus, what's the trouble here?" the latter asked, as the crowd whohad followed the two scouts gathered about them.
Solomon gave his account of what had happened. It was quickly verifiedby many eye-witnesses.
"Ye done right," said the General. "Burley has got to take it back an'apologize. He ain't fit to be an officer. He behaved himself like abully. Any man who talks as he done orto be cussed an' Binkussed an'sent to the guard house."
Within three days Burley had made an ample apology for his conduct andthis bulletin was posted at headquarters:
"Liberty of speech has its limits. It must be controlled by the law ofdecency and the general purposes of our army and government. The manwho respects no authority above his own intellect is a conceited assand would be a tyrant if he had the chance. No word of disrespect fora superior officer will be tolerated in this army."
"The Binkussing of Burley"--a phrase which traveled far beyond thelimits of Putnam's camp--and the notice of warning which followed wasnot without its effect on the propaganda o
f Gates and his friends.