62-69.] With that promptness which distinguished him during his whole life, Washington set out on his perilous journey the very day he received his instructions, and made his way first to Logstown, and then to Fort Le Boeuf, where he delivered Governor Dinwiddie's letter to the French commandant.

The reply of Saint-Pierre--for that was the name of the French commandant--was that he would send the letter of Dinwiddie to the governor of Canada, the Marquis Duquesne (doo-kan'), and that, in the meantime, he would hold the fort.
[Illustration: The French and the English Forts] %79.

Fort Duquesne.%--When Dinwiddie read the answer of Saint-Pierre, he saw clearly that the time had come to act.

The French were in force on the upper Allegheny.

Unless something was done to drive them out, they would soon be at the forks of the Ohio, and once they were there, the splendid tract of the Ohio Company would be lost forever.