aid Samson. "He's young
and the wound will heal."

It was well for Harry that he was out of the way of all this, and entered
upon adventures which absorbed his thought. As to what was passing with
him we have conclusive evidence in two letters, one from Colonel Zachary
Taylor in which he says:

"Harry Needles is also recommended for the most intrepid conduct as a
scout and for securing information of great value. Compelled to abandon
his wounded horse he swam a river under fire and under the observation of
three of our officers, through whose help he got back to his command,
bringing a bullet in his thigh."

With no knowledge of military service and a company of untrained men, Abe
had no chance to win laurels in the campaign. His command did not get in
touch with the enemy. He had his hands full maintaining a decent regard
for discipline among the raw frontiersmen of his company.

He saved the life of an innocent old Indian, with a passport from General
Cass, who had fallen into their hands and whom, in their excitement and
lust for action, they desired to hang. This was the only incident of his
term of service which gave him the least satisfaction.

Early in the campaign Harry had been sent with a message to headquarters,
where he won the regard of Colonel Taylor and was ordered to the front
with a company of scouts. No member of the command had been so daring.
He had the recklessness of youth and its wayward indifferences to peril.
William Boone, a son of Daniel, used to speak of "the luck of that
daredevil farmer boy."

One day in passing mounted through a thick woods on the river, near the
enemy, he suddenly discovered Indians all around him. They sprang out of
the bushes ahead and one of them opened fire. He turned and spurred his
horse and saw the painted warriors on every side. He rode through them
under a hot fire. His horse fell wounded near the river shore and Harry
took to the water and swam beneath it as far as he could. When he came up
for breath bullets began splashing and whizzing around him. It was then
that he got his wound. He dove and reached the swift current which
greatly aided his efforts. Some white men in a boat about three hundred
yards away witnessed his escape and said that the bullets "tore the
river surface into rags" around him as he came up. Courage and his skill
as a diver and swimmer saved his life. Far below, the boat, in which were
a number of his fellow Scouts overtook him and h