in command of the fort at the forks of the Ohio,
which, it seems, has been named Fort Duquesne. This is the message," and
he held out the paper to Washington.

"'Tis in French," said the latter, glancing over it. "What does it say?"

"It warns you to return to the settlements," answered Peyronie, "on the
pretext that all the land this side the mountains belongs to France."

Here the prisoner, who was evidently laboring under great excitement,
broke in, and said something rapidly in a loud voice, which made Peyronie
flush, and drew nods and cries of approbation from the other prisoners.

"What does he say?" asked Washington, seeing that Peyronie hesitated.

"He says, sir," answered Peyronie, with evident reluctance, "that M. de
Jumonville came in the character of an ambassador and has been
assassinated."

Washington flushed hotly and his eyes grew dark.

"Ask M. Drouillon," he said, "why an ambassador thought it necessary to
bring with him a guard of thirty men?"

Peyronie put the question, but Drouillon did not reply.

"Ask him also," continued Washington, "why he remained concealed near my
troops for three days, instead of coming directly to me as an ambassador
should have done?"

Again Peyronie put the question, and again there was no answer.

"Tell him," said Washington sternly, "that I see through his trick,--that
I comprehend it thoroughly. M. Jumonville counted on using his pretext of
ambassador to spy upon my camp, and to avert an attack in case he was
discovered. Well, he produced his message too late. He has behaved as an
enemy, and has been treated as such. That he is dead is wholly his own
fault. Had he chosen the part of an ambassador instead of that of a spy,
this would not have happened."

He turned away, and apparently dismissed the matter from his mind, but
that it troubled him long afterward I am quite certain, though in the
whole affair no particle of blame attached to him. The French made a
great outcry about it, but I have never heard that any of them ever
answered the questions which were put to M. Drouillon. The truth of the
matter is, that they were only too eager for some pretext upon which to
base the assertion that it was the English who began hostilities, and
this flimsy excuse was the best they could invent. But that little brush
under the trees on that windy May morning was to have momentous
consequences, for it was the beginning of the struggle which drenched the
continent in b