At school, George was a spirited leader in all outdoor sports. He outran, outjumped, as well as outwrestled all his comrades. He could throw farther than any of them. The story is told that he once threw a stone across the Rappahannock, and that at another time he threw a stone from the valley below to the top of the Natural Bridge, a distance of more than two hundred feet. [Sidenote: =Playing war=] Washington was captain when the boys played at war. Every boy among them expected to be a soldier some day. George listened to the stories told by his brother Lawrence, who had been a captain in the West Indies. [Illustration: WASHINGTON DREAMING OF A SEAMAN'S LIFE] [Sidenote: =A horseback rider=] As a boy George Washington also learned many useful things outside of school. He became a skillful horseback rider, for every Virginia plantation had fine riding horses. People lived so far apart that they had to ride horseback when they visited each other and when they went to church or to town. Whether George rode a wild colt to "break" it, or whether he rode with his neighbors through woods and fields, jumping fences or swimming streams, or in a wild chase after the fox, he always kept his seat. [Sidenote: =A woodsman=] Even while a boy Washington was learning the ways of a woodsman. With only a gun and a dog for companions, he made long trips into the deep, dark Virginia forests, where no road or path showed the way. He could cross rivers without bridge or boat, could build a shelter at night, could trap, and shoot, and cook over the fire by the side of which he slept. All this knowledge was soon put to use by Washington. [Illustration: WASHINGTON AS A WOODSMAN] [Illustration: WASHINGTON'S SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS] [Sidenote: =Washington wanted to be a sailor=] When George was fourteen it was decided that he might "go to sea." No doubt he dreamed of the time when he should be a seaman, or perhaps an officer on one of the king's great war ships. But when all was ready, he gave up his plans to please his mother and went back to school. He now studied surveying, and was soon able to mark off the boundaries of farms and lay out roads. [Sidenote: =Lord Fairfax=] George was now more and more at Mount Vernon, where he met many fine people. Among these visitors he admired most an old English nobleman, Lord Fairfax, who had come to spend the rest of his days beyond the Blue Ridge in the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah. [Sidenote: =A surveyor at sixteen=] =64. Washington as Surveyor.= Lord Fairfax was pleased with Washington, who was then tall, strong, active, and manly looking, although but sixteen years old. Accordingly, one spring Washington, with a number of companions, started over the mountains to survey the wild lands of Lord Fairfax. [Sidenote: =Life in the Shenandoah in 1748=]