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Updated: May 27, 2025
I went out in the bush to find Buckeye an' he were dead as the whale that swallered Jonah." So ends the letter of Solomon Binkus. Jack Irons and his family and that of Peter Bones the boys and girls riding two on a horse with the captives filed down the Mohawk trail. It was a considerable cavalcade of twenty-one people and twenty-four horses and colts, the latter following.
"I owe you more than I can ever pay," he said to the faithful Binkus. "Money would not be good enough for your reward." Solomon stepped close to the great man and said in a low tone: "Them young 'uns has growed kind o' love sick an' I wouldn't wonder. I don't ask only one thing. Don't make no mistake 'bout this 'ere boy. In the bush we have a way o' pickin' out men.
Now the touch of his wife's hand, the sympathetic look in her eyes and all her babble about the coming marriage were torture to him. He could not endure it. Worst of all, he was in a way where there is no turning. He must go on. He had begun to know that he was suspected. The conduct of the scout, Solomon Binkus, had suggested that he knew what was passing.
"Binkus, as you know, had his own way of scouting," said the Major. "He was an Indian fighter. He liked to get inside the enemy lines and lie close an' watch 'em an' mebbe hear what they were talking about. Now an' then he would surprise a British sentinel and disarm him an' bring him into camp." Jack wondered that his friend had never spoken of the capture of prisoners.
You have suffered much, but it will be a comfort for you to know that the information you brought enabled me to hasten the departure of the British." Turning to Solomon, he added: "Colonel Binkus, I am indebted to you for faithful, effective and valiant service. You shall have a medal." "Gin'ral Washington, we're a-goin' to lick 'em," said Solomon. "We're a-goin' to break their necks."
Binkus stopped, now and then, to listen for two or three seconds and went on with long stealthy strides. His movements were panther-like, and the boy imitated them. He was a tall, handsome, big-framed lad with blond hair and blue eyes. They could soon see their way clearly. At the edge of the valley the scout stopped and peered out upon it. A deep mist lay on the meadows.
This letter he put into his pocket with the purpose of asking Preston to deliver it if circumstances should drive him out of England or into prison. Captain Preston went with Solomon Binkus next day to the address on the card of Lieutenant Clarke. It was the house of the General, who was waiting with his son in the reception room. They walked together to the Almack Club.
The yard was an opening walled in by the main structure and its two wings and a wooden fence some fifteen feet high. There was a ragged, dirty rabble of "rebel" prisoners, among whom was Solomon Binkus, all out for an airing. The old scout had lost flesh and color. He held Jack's hand and stood for a moment without speaking. "I never was so glad and so sorry in my life," said Solomon.
On the third of August the precise date named by Henry Thornhill Arnold took command of the camp and Irons assumed his new duties. The Major-General rode with Washington every day until, on the fourteenth of September, the latter set out with three aides and Colonel Binkus on his trip to Connecticut. Solomon rode with the party for two days and then returned.
Binkus who rescued you. We live in a wild country among savages and the white folks have to protect each other. We're used to it." "I never saw or expected to see men like you," she went on. "I have read of them in books, but I never hoped to see them and talk to them. You are like Ajax and Achilles." "Then I shall say that you are like the fair lady for whom they fought."
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