ad made half the distance to safe footing. Then their own began to
crack into sections as big "as a ten-acre lot," Mr. Binkus said, "an'
the noise was like a battle, but Jack kept a-goin' an' me settin' light
an' my mind a-pushin' like a scairt deer." Water was flooding over the
ice which had broken near shore, but the skater jumped the crack before
it was wider than a man's hand and took the sled with him. They
reached the river's edge before the ice began heaving and there the
sloped snow had been wet and frozen to rocks and bushes, so they were
able to make their way through it.

"Now, we're even," said Solomon when they had hauled the sled up the
river bank while he looked back at the ice now breaking and beginning
to pile up, "I done you a favor an' you've done me one. It's my turn
next."

This was the third in the remarkable series of adventures which came to
these men.

They had a hearty welcome at the little house near The King's Arms,
where they sat until midnight telling of their adventures. In the
midst of it, Jack said to his father:

"I heard a speaker say in Boston that the dragon's teeth had been sown.
What does that mean?"

"It means that war is coming," said John Irons. "We might as well get
ready for it."

These words, coming from his father, gave him a shock of surprise. He
began to think of the effect of war on his own fortunes.

3

Solomon sent his furs to market and went to work on the farm of John
Irons and lived with the family. The boy returned to school. After
the hay had been cut and stacked in mid-summer, they were summoned to
Boston to testify in the trial of Preston. They left in September
taking with them a drove of horses.

"It will be good for Jack," John Irons had said to his wife. "He'll be
the better prepared for his work in Philadelphia next fall."

Two important letters had arrived that summer. One from Benjamin
Franklin to John Irons, offering Jack a chance to learn the printer's
trade in his Philadelphia shop and board and lodging in his home. "If
the boy is disposed to make a wise improvement of his time," the great
man had written, "I shall see that he has an opportunity to take a
course at our Academy. I am sure he would be a help and comfort to
Mrs. Franklin. She, I think, will love to mother him. Do not be
afraid to send him away from home. It will help him along toward
manhood. I was much impressed by his letter to Miss Margaret Hare,
whic