“Whenever there is a regular war against the Injuns, Mr. Washington, the British troops will have to learn a new sort of fighting. Before this they have never had to fight an enemy they could not see; but when it comes to fighting Injuns in a country like this, where there is a man with a gun behind every tree and rock, and where a thousand men can march so that when you look at the path you would think less than a hundred had passed over it, and when you are fighting an enemy that has no ammunition-wagons or baggage-wagons or anything that travels on wheels--I say, Mr. Washington, there will be a good many British soldiers that will bite the dust before they find out how to fight these red warriors--for warriors they are, sir. And though it is not for me, that never was anything but a private soldier, to talk about officers, yet I know that the English officers have got more to learn about fighting in this country than the men have.” [Illustration: THE DAILY LESSON IN ARMS] The hour came when all this returned to George with terrible force. Within a few days after his arrival he had an opportunity to send his letter to Betty and his journal to his mother. He was very anxious to know how his mother would act on hearing of Billy’s having taken French leave. But it must be admitted that Billy was of small value to anybody except George; and although Madam Washington when she wrote denounced Billy’s disobedience, laziness, and general naughtiness in strong terms, she promised amnesty when he returned. George read this part of the letter to Billy, whose only comment was very philosophic. “Missis ain’ gwi’ trouble me, but I ’spect mammy and daddy will gimme a whuppin’.” The prospect of the “whuppin’,” however, did not materially affect Billy’s happiness, who, having much to eat and little to do, and the presence of Rattler and his beloved “Marse George,” had all that was essential to his happiness. The life was so altogether new to George, and the companionship of Lord Fairfax so unlike any he had ever known before, that the boy’s mind grew and developed more in the weeks he spent at Greenway than in all his previous life. For the first time he was treated as a man by a man, and all at once it made a man of him. He began to think and act like a man instead of a boy. Lord Fairfax did not join him in his sports and hunting expeditions, but he delighted to hear of them when George would return after a hard day’s tramp over the mountains in search of game. Proud was he the day he returned after having shot his first bear--a splendid black specimen, measuring over five feet from snout to tail. Old Lance, who had become a skilful trapper, took the skin off, and cured it so cleverly that not an inch of it was lost. This trophy George intended for his mother.