surveying trip, Lord Fairfax was
greatly pleased with his work; and the governor of Virginia made him
one of the public surveyors. By this means he was able to get work
which paid him handsomely.

[Footnote 4: Survey: to find out the form, size, and position of a
piece of land by measuring it in certain ways.]

[Footnote 5: See map in this paragraph.]

[Footnote 6: Flint and steel: see picture in paragraph 84.]

128. Washington at the age of twenty-one; the French in the west;
the governor of Virginia sends Washington to see the French
commander.--By the time Washington was twenty-one he had grown to
be over six feet in height. He was straight as an arrow and tough
as a whip-lash. He had keen blue eyes that seemed to look into the
very heart of things, and his fist was like a blacksmith's
sledgehammer. He knew all about the woods, all about Indians, and
he could take care of himself anywhere.

At this time the English settlers held the country along the seashore
as far back as the Alleghany Mountains.[7] West of those mountains
the French from Canada were trying to get possession of the land.
They had made friends with many of the Indians, and they hoped, with
their help, to be able to drive out the English and get the whole
country for themselves.

In order to hold this land in the west, the French had built several
forts[8] south of Lake Erie, and they were getting ready to build
some on the Ohio River. The governor of Virginia was determined to
put a stop to this. He had given young Washington the military title
of major;[9] he now sent Major Washington to see the French commander
at one of the forts near Lake Erie. Washington was to tell the
Frenchman that he had built his forts on land belonging to the English,
and that he and his men must either leave or fight.

Major Washington dressed himself like an Indian, and attended by
several friendly Indians and by a white man named Gist,[10] who knew
the country well, he set out on his journey through what was called
the Great Woods.

The entire distance to the farthest fort and back was about a thousand
miles. Washington could go on horseback part of the way, but there
were no regular roads, and he had to climb mountains and swim rivers.
After several weeks' travel he reached the fort, but the French
commander refused to give up the land. He said that he and his men
had come to stay, and that if the English did not like it, they must
fight.

[Footnote 7: