Alleghany (Al'le-ga'ni): see map in paragraph 127. (It
is also spelled Allegheny.)]

[Footnote 8: Forts: see map in paragraph 127.]

[Footnote 9: Major (ma'jer): an officer in the army next above a
captain, but below a colonel.]

[Footnote 10: Gist (Jist).]

129. The journey back; the Indian guide; how Washington found his
way through the woods; the adventure with the raft.--On the way back,
Washington had to leave his horses and come on foot with Gist and
an Indian guide sent from the fort. This Indian guide was in the pay
of the French, and he intended to murder Washington in the woods.
One day he shot at him from behind a tree, but luckily did not hit
him. Then Washington and Gist managed to get away from him, and set
out to go back to Virginia by themselves. There were no paths through
the thick forest; but Washington had his compass with him, and with
that he could find his way just as the captain of a ship finds his
at sea. When they reached the Alleghany River they found it full of
floating ice. They worked all day and made a raft of logs. As they
were pushing their way across with poles, Washington's pole was
struck by a big piece of ice which he says jerked him out into water
ten feet deep. At length the two men managed to get to a little island,
but as there was no wood on it, they could not make a fire. The weather
was bitterly cold, and Washington, who was soaked to the skin, had
to take his choice between walking about all night, or trying to sleep
on the frozen ground in his wet clothes.

[Illustration: WASHINGTON AND GIST ON THE RAFT.]

130. Major Washington becomes Colonel Washington; Fort Necessity;
Braddock's defeat.--When Major Washington got back to Virginia, the
governor made him colonel. With a hundred and fifty men, Colonel
Washington was ordered to set out for the west. He was to "make
prisoners, kill or destroy," all Frenchmen who should try to get
possession of land on the Ohio River. He built a small log fort, which
he named Fort Necessity.[11] Here the French attacked him. They had
five men to his one. Colonel Washington fought like a man who liked
to hear the bullets whistle past his ears,--as he said he did,--but
in the end he had to give up the fort.

Then General Braddock, a noted English soldier, was sent over to
Virginia by the king to drive the French out of the country. He
started with a fine army, and Washington went with him.[12] He told
General Braddock that the Frenc