CES.

Although George Washington spent so much of his time at Greenway Court,
he still called Mount Vernon his home.

Going down home in the autumn, just before he was twenty years old, he
found matters in a sad state, and greatly changed.

His brother Lawrence was very ill--indeed, he had been ill a long time.
He had tried a trip to England; he had spent a summer at the warm
springs; but all to no purpose. He was losing strength every day.

The sick man dreaded the coming of cold weather. If he could only go to
the warm West Indies before winter set in, perhaps that would prolong
his life. Would George go with him?

No loving brother could refuse a request like that.

The captain of a ship in the West India trade agreed to take them; and
so, while it was still pleasant September, the two Washingtons embarked
for Barbadoes, which, then as now, belonged to the English.

It was the first time that George had ever been outside of his native
land, and it proved to be also the last. He took careful notice of
everything that he saw; and, in the little note-book which he seems to
have always had with him, he wrote a brief account of the trip.

He had not been three weeks at Barbadoes before he was taken down with
the smallpox; and for a month he was very sick. And so his winter in the
West Indies could not have been very pleasant.

In February the two brothers returned home to Mount Vernon. Lawrence's
health had not been bettered by the journey. He was now very feeble; but
he lingered on until July, when he died.

By his will Lawrence Washington left his fine estate of Mount Vernon,
and all the rest of his wealth, to his little daughter. But George was
to be the daughter's guardian; and in case of her death, all her vast
property was to be his own.

And so, before he was quite twenty-one years old, George Washington was
settled at Mount Vernon as the manager of one of the richest estates in
Virginia. The death of his little niece not long afterward made him the
owner of this estate, and, of course, a very wealthy man.

But within a brief time, events occurred which called him away from his
peaceful employments.

* * * * *

VIII.--A PERILOUS JOURNEY.

Early the very next year news was brought to Virginia that the French
were building forts along the Ohio, and making friends with the Indians
there. This of course meant that they intended to keep the English out
of that country