He knew what progress the bold French traders and missionaries had made in the West. He knew that the Indians were attracted by the gay, pleasure-loving French and repelled by the serious-faced, hard-working English; and he felt that the defense of the extensive frontier against the combined strength of the French and Indians would be a difficult matter

Governor Dinwiddie was also a member of the Ohio Company, and agreed with its president. So, when the French advanced to Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, while other governors were waiting for the action of colonial legislatures, the Virginia governor wrote to his majesty the king, explaining the situation, and received prompt directions to build forts if he could get the money, and if the French advanced upon English territory to request them peaceably to depart, "or, if necessary, to drive them off by force of arms."

The French were not slow to justify the alarm Governor Dinwiddie had sounded. They were reported to have advanced to the headwaters of the Ohio and to be building

forts there. First, the king's instructions said the French should be warned "peaceably to depart." The governor must find a brave and responsible messenger to carry that warning and to see how far the report was correct. This called for a man who could face danger without flinching.

On the thirtieth day of October, 1753, he appointed George Washington to take the message. If he desired a prompt agent, young Washington promised to give satisfaction. No time was lost in elaborate preparation for the five-hundred-mile march through the wilderOn the day he received his appointment Washington "set out on his journey."

ness.

He could not speak French, so he took with him as interpreter Captain Van Braam, who had taught him the use of sword and musket in more peaceful days at Mount Vernon. The first part of the journey was the easiest. The horses were fresh; the cabins of settlers and traders not infrequent; a road had been opened by the Ohio Company, and the party was encumbered with little luggage. Still, it was

the middle of November before Washington made the last halt in Virginia.

This was at Will's Creek, where the Ohio Company had established a store.

When he left Will's Creek on the fifteenth of November his way lay over a winding Indian trail, along which his little band rode single file. At its head was Christopher Gist, a hardy woodman who had served the Ohio Company as surveyor along the Ohio River.

He was a rugged man, well acquainted with the solitude of uninhabited mountains and plains, thoroughly at home with the red man, versed in their prejudices and weaknesses, and skilled in managing them. Washington found in him a faithful and invaluable guide. Over mountain ranges, through valleys, across streams, the trail wound. The days grew shorter as well as raw and cold. The rain fell ceaselessly, and the tired horses made slow progress on the slippery trail.

Washington had not been a wilderness surveyor in vain, for, however hard the way, he was not exhausted and made no complaint.

Still, even the stanch Washington was glad to see the smoke of a cabin chimney as he neared the place where Turtle Creek enters the Monongahela River. But Frazer, the inmate of that cabin, had no good news for the English.

The French, he said, had driven him from his house at Venango and were building a fort there. Moreover, he had received a belt of wampum and a speech for the governor of Virginia, telling of strong Indian tribes which had joined the French cause. At Logstown Washington was met by some friendly Indians, who attached themselves to his company. At Venango, as he had expected, he found the French flag floating over the Frazer cabin.

Here he and his men were received with great courtesy. But in the evening, as they sat around the fire, liquor flowed freely, and the French forgot their caution and gave the ever-watchful envoy a glimpse of their true attitude toward the English. Washington described the experience as follows: "The wine, as they dosed themselves pretty plentifully with

ap

it, soon banished the restraint which at first peared in their conversation, and gave a license to their tongues to reveal their sentiments more fully." "They told me that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio, and they would do it; for that although they were sensible the English could raise two men to their one, yet they knew their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any undertaking of theirs.”

Four more days of travel brought the governor's messenger to Fort Le Bœuf, his journey's end. While waiting for the commander's reply, Washington and his men were again entertained with the utmost civility. It was now the middle of December. Washington had seen enough to make him feel sure that no time was to be lost. Governor Dinwiddie must know what the French were doing in the king's territory.

But horses and men were well-nigh exhausted. Washington decided to try to make part of the journey in canoes. The streams were winding and choked with ice, however,