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 French and the Indians would hide in the woods and fire at his men from behind trees.  But Braddock paid no attention to the warning.  On his way through the forest, the brave English general was suddenly struck down by the enemy, half of his army were killed or wounded, and the rest put to flight.  Washington had two horses shot under him, and four bullets went through his coat.  It was a narrow escape for the young man.  One of those who fought in the battle said, “I expected every moment to see him fall”—­but he was to live for greater work.

[Illustration:  FALL OF GENERAL BRADDOCK ON THE BATTLE-FIELD.]

[Footnote 11:  Fort Necessity:  see map in paragraph 127.]

[Footnote 12:  See map of Braddock’s march in paragraph 127.]

131.  End of the war with the French; what the king of England wanted to do; how the people here felt toward him.—­The war with the French lasted a number of years.  It ended by the English getting possession of the whole of America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.  All this part of America was ruled by George the Third, king of England.  The king now determined to send over more soldiers, and keep them here to prevent the French in Canada from trying to get back the country