All this trouble would keep up, too, while Fort Duquesne, over there at the Forks of the Ohio, sent its Rangers and Indians against the Americans of the south while the English soldiers were busy in the far north.
At last, in the spring of 1758, it was known that Fort Duquesne was to be taken this very summer. Lord Fairfax got the news as quickly as anybody, for he constantly received letters and papers from England. He liked to talk with Robert, who at eighteen had grown to feel himself a man—and besides, had learned to read and to write and to think white-race thoughts.
Washington rode down from Fort Loudoun, which he had built at Winchester. He and Lord Fairfax, taking Robert (whom Colonel Washington, aged twenty-six, never failed to send for) rode and talked, as in the early days of Greenway Court.
“By George, George!” Lord Fairfax exulted. “They say Forbes, that Scotch doctor, is to lead you into the woods. He won his berth of brigadier in His Majesty’s army without favor, and while his record shows him a hard man to turn, you may believe me that he is no Braddock. He’s too canny not to look before he leaps. Will you trust your precious carcass to him? Faith, you’ve been desperately sick; so you might well seize the opportunity of getting as far away from your bed as you can.”
“As long as I can move I will join any march to overthrow Fort Duquesne,” answered Washington. “It is a thorn in the side of Virginia, and should have been plucked out long ago. I have repeatedly asked for forces and authority with which to carry the war into the enemy’s territory. If we do not do that, this country is lost. There will not be a settler north of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As for Brigadier-General Forbes,” Washington added. “I have already, as you might easily guess, applied for a part in the expedition.”
“I’ll furnish you with one good man, at least,” chuckled old Lord Fairfax. “You shall have my half-Indian brave, here, again. Though I don’t know who will tell me hunting stories while he is gone.”
Washington turned with a brief smile for Robert. He was very thin, and white, for he had indeed been ill. The hardships of the wilderness trail had left their mark upon him.
“Robert the Hunter has been in my mind,” he said. “I can count on him as a soldier; and when he joins the colors I shall see that he is made a corporal.”
“Ho, ho,” Lord Fairfax laughed. “That’s an honor. Since poor Braddock’s failure with his Regulars I’ve come to look upon a corporal of your ‘raw Provincials’ as rather more dependable than a red-coat sergeant. But mark my words, George: you’ll find John Forbes a different kind of man.”
There were to be two regiments from Virginia, three from Pennsylvania, several companies from Maryland, two from North Carolina; a battalion of Royal Americans who were King’s soldiers under Regular officers; and a regiment of Highlanders who were Scotch Regulars sent from across the water.