Anticipating a challenge to a duel, Payne armed himself with a pistol in the morning before making the call. To his surprise, Washington met him at the door with an apology.
"I ask your pardon for an offence given in an unguarded moment," he said, grasping his hand.
Payne was thoroughly embarrassed by this reception, and he was so filled with admiration by the magnanimity of the act, that he became one of Washington's warmest friends. Their mutual friendship lasted as long as they lived.
Mr. McGuire very properly says of this deed:
"How noble and becoming was this conduct! It was especially admirable in a youthful soldier, whose very profession exposed him to peculiar temptations on such an occasion. How many would have been driven, by the fear of reproach and dread of unfavorable insinuations, to incur the hazards of a duel, thus offering up at the shrine of honor the costly sacrifice of human life. It was not possible that a man like Washington, so endowed with moral courage and regard for virtue, should be moved by the fear of man to such a course. He dreaded not the charge of cowardice from the mouths of fools. In his own bosom he had its ample refutation. He was conscious of a fortitude which no dangers could shake. To display it in murdering a fellow-citizen was not his ambition. He had before him the tented field and the enemies of his country, and he was pledged for the hazards of a mortal conflict in her defence. Here he was willing to show his courage and lay down his life. He would not do so to gratify revenge, or win applause from the vain."
When Washington had recruited two more companies of fifty men each, he applied to Governor Dinwiddie for permission to advance for the better protection of the frontier. Having procured the order from the governor, he marched out of camp, equipped not only with arms, but also with implements of labor for constructing a road over which supplies and cannon might be readily transported. This was a great undertaking, since there were giant trees to be felled, hills to be levelled, marshes to be filled, rocks to be blasted, and bridges to be built. So great a work was this, that the little army was fourteen days going thirteen miles. They reached Will's Creek on the 24th of April, 1754, where Washington unexpectedly met Captain Trent.
"What are you doing here, captain," said Washington, somewhat surprised at seeing him.
"Recruiting my command," answered Trent. "I need more men to construct the fort."
"That is certain, and we need more men everywhere," responded Washington. "It is fearfully hard work to prosecute such a campaign with so few men. But how are you succeeding?"
"As well as could be expected under the circumstances. I am thankful for the smallest number of recruits, for forty men to construct and garrison a fort at the forks of the Ohio is altogether too small a force."