e filled
out. He is described as having a well-shaped, active figure,
symmetrical except for the unusual length of his arms, indicating great
strength. His light brown hair was drawn back from a broad forehead,
and grayish-blue eyes looked happily and perhaps soberly on the
pleasant Virginia hills and valleys. His face was open and manly, set
off by a square, massive jaw, and a general expression of calmness and
strength. "Fair and florid, big and strong, he was, take him for all
in all, as fine a specimen of his race as could be found in the English
colonies."

It was at this turning point in his career that Washington was
fortunate in finding a friend and protector in Lord Fairfax, whose
daughter was the wife of Lawrence Washington. This distinguished old
veteran, a long-time friend of the Washington family, took a particular
fancy to the young man. They hunted the fox together, and hunted him
hard. In those days fox-hunting was no kid glove and pink tea affair.
It was one of many perilous outdoor sports that frontier Virginia could
afford; and as they hunted, the old English nobleman had opportunity to
learn what sort of stuff this young Virginian was made of. He saw that
here was a union of sturdy qualities upon which he could rely.

Lord Fairfax then owned, by kingly grant, a vast estate stretching
across the Blue Ridge into the untrodden wilderness. Until the estate
was properly surveyed, it would be subject to endless lawsuits. We can
imagine the following conversation on one of their helter-skelter rides
together:

"What are you studying now, George?"

"Mathematics, sir."

"Humph! Like it?"

"In part--but some of it is stiff."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Well, sir," hesitated George, "since my mother objects to my going
into the navy, I thought I would turn my hand at surveying. There's
lots to be done around here."

"The very thing! I think I could use you, myself. When you are ready
let me know, and I'll send you over the hill yonder to mark out where
Fairfax starts, and where he ends. My cousin George will go with you."

So, in some such fashion it was arranged, and in the spring of 1748,
George Fairfax and George Washington set forth on their adventures.
The Virginia mountains were just budding forth in the freshness of
spring when they started out by way of Ashby's Gap, in the Blue Ridge,
entering the valley of Virginia. Thence they worked through the
Shenandoah regi