strious career was put in deadly peril, for on the second day of his
escort, the treacherous guide deliberately fired his gun at Washington
when standing only a few feet away from him. Bad marksmanship saved the
intended victim, and Gist started to kill the Indian on the spot; but
Washington, patient then as always, sent the savage away, giving him
provisions to last until he could reach his tribe. But an apprehension
of further trouble from the friends of the discomfited guide impelled
the two men to travel all that night and the next day, although
Washington was suffering acute agony from his frosted feet. While
recrossing the Allegheny River on a rude raft, Washington fell into the
icy waters and was saved by Gist from drowning only after the greatest
efforts had been employed to rescue him. Reaching Herr's Island (within
the present city limits), they built a fire and camped there for the
night, but in the morning Gist's hands were frozen. The bitter cold had
now solidified the river and the two wanderers passed over it on foot.
By noon they had reached the home of John Frazier, at Turtle Creek,
where they were given clothes and fresh supplies. The journey was
completed in three more days, and on receiving the reply of
Contrecoeur, the English began their preparations for sending troops
to Pittsburgh.

IV

As soon as Washington's advice as to the location of the fort was
received, Captain William Trent was despatched to Pittsburgh with a
force of soldiers and workmen, packhorses, and materials, and he began
in all haste to erect a stronghold. The French had already built forts
on the northern lakes, and they now sent Captain Contrecoeur down the
Allegheny with one thousand French, Canadians, and Indians, and eighteen
pieces of cannon, in a flotilla of sixty bateaux and three hundred
canoes. Trent had planted himself in Pittsburgh on February 17, 1754, a
date important because it marks the first permanent white settlement
there. But his work had been retarded alike by the small number of his
men and the severity of the winter; and when Contrecoeur arrived in
April, the young subaltern who commanded in Trent's absence surrendered
the unfinished works, and was permitted to march away with his
thirty-three men. The French completed the fort and named it Duquesne,
in honor of the governor of Canada; and they held possession of it for
four years.

Immediately on the loss of this fort, Virginia sent a force under
Was