It would seem that the object of this first trip was to get a general knowledge of the extent of Sir Thomas Fairfax’s great woodland estate—­to learn where the richest bottom lands lay, and where were the best hunting-grounds.

The young men had not done much if any real surveying; they had been exploring.

George Washington had written an account of everything in a little note-book which he carried with him.

Sir Thomas was so highly pleased with the report which the young men brought back that he made up his mind to move across the Blue Ridge and spend the rest of his life on his own lands.

And so, that very summer, he built in the midst of the great woods a hunting lodge which he called Greenway Court.  It was a large, square house, with broad gables and a long roof sloping almost to the ground.

When he moved into this lodge he expected soon to build a splendid mansion and make a grand home there, like the homes he had known in England.  But time passed, and as the lodge was roomy and comfortable, he still lived in it and put off beginning another house.

Washington was now seventeen years old.  Through the influence of Sir Thomas Fairfax he was appointed public surveyor; and nothing would do but that he must spend the most of his time at Greenway Court and keep on with the work that he had begun.

For the greater part of three years he worked in the woods and among the mountains, surveying Sir Thomas’s lands.  And Sir Thomas paid him well—­a doubloon ($8.24) for each day, and more than that if the work was very hard.

But there were times when the young surveyor did not go out to work, but stayed at Greenway Court with his good friend, Sir Thomas.  The old gentleman had something of a library, and on days when they could neither work nor hunt, George spent the time in reading.  He read the Spectator and a history of England, and possibly some other works.

And so it came about that the three years which young Washington spent in surveying were of much profit to him.

The work in the open air gave him health and strength.  He gained courage and self-reliance.  He became acquainted with the ways of the backwoodsmen and of the savage Indians.  And from Sir Thomas Fairfax he learned a great deal about the history, the laws, and the military affairs of old England.

And in whatever he undertook to do or to learn, he was careful and systematic and thorough.  He did nothing by guess; he never left anything half done.  And therein, let me say to you, lie the secrets of success in any calling.

* * * * *

VI.—­The Ohio country.

You have already learned how the English people had control of all that part of our country which borders upon the Atlantic Ocean.  You have learned, also, that they had made thirteen great settlements along the coast, while all the vast region west of the mountains remained a wild and unknown land.