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 and French who would steal land. More work soon came and the young man had to start out and see if it were true that forts were to be built on the O-hi-o.

The roads were bad and the woods were dark, but Wash-ing-ton, with four men and a guide who spoke French, went through mire and swamp, till they came to the fort of which they were in search. The chief of the French troops had a long talk but he would not give up. He sent a note back, and with this Wash-ing-ton set out for home. Snow and ice were on land and stream. There was one bad place on the way where they had to stop and make a raft so that they could cross a stream. The logs they had to use were damp, and from these Wash-ing-ton made a slip which might have been the cause of his death if the man who was with him had not drawn him out from the cold stream.

MOUNT VERNON, THE HOME OF WASHINGTON.

Wash-ing-ton did his work so well that at the end of five years he was at the head of the forces of his own State.