d
happy is he who gets the berth nearest the fire."

Their cooking was often done by impaling the meat on sharp sticks and
holding it over the fire, while chips cut with their hatchet took the
place of dishes. But to them all this was enjoyment, their appetites
were hearty, and anything having the spice of adventure was gladly
welcomed. It was the event of their young lives.

It was still April when they returned from their long river ride to
Greenway Court, and here enjoyed for some time the comforts of
civilization, so far as they had penetrated that frontier scene. Spring
was still upon the land, though summer was near by, when George and his
friend rode back across the Blue Ridge and returned to Belvoir with the
report of what they had done. Lord Fairfax was highly pleased with the
report, and liked George more than ever for the faithful and intelligent
manner in which he had carried out his task. He paid the young surveyor
at the rate of seven dollars a day for the time he was actually at work,
and half this amount for the remaining time. This was worth a good deal
more then than the same sum of money would be now, and was very good pay
for a boy of sixteen. No doubt the lad felt rich with the first money he
had ever earned in his pocket.

As for Lord Fairfax, he was in high glee to learn what a valuable
property he had across the hills, and especially how fine a country it
was for hunting. He soon left Belvoir and made his home at Greenway
Court, where he spent the remainder of his life. It was a very different
life from that of his early days in the bustle of fashionable life in
London, but it seemed to suit him as well or better.

One thing more we have to say about him. He was still living at Greenway
Court when the Revolutionary War came on. A loyalist in grain, he
bitterly opposed the rebellion of the colonists. By the year 1781 he had
grown very old and feeble. One day he was in Winchester, a town which
had grown up not far from Greenway, when he heard loud shouts and cheers
in the street.

"What is all that noise about?" he asked his old servant.

"Dey say dat Gin'ral Washington has took Lord Cornwallis an' all his
army prisoners. Yorktown is surrendered, an' de wa' is ovah."

"Take me to bed, Joe," groaned the old lord; "it is time for me to die."

Five years after his surveying excursion George Washington had a far
more famous adventure in the wilderness, when the governor of Virginia
sent him th