Part 6 (1/2)
He rose to his feet and stood for a lance the circle of chiefs As he did so, the an to produce a reaction For forty years he had been the great war-chief of the tribes of the Wauna, and had never known defeat The ancient ene bands of the prairies had carried his name far and wide; and even beyond the Rockies, Sioux and pawnee had heard ru River of the West He stood before the assurance of victory and dominion
As was custo the way for a special appeal, he began to recount the deeds of the fathers, the valor of the ancient heroes of the race His stoicisue The passion that was burning within him made his words like pictures, so vivid they were, and thrilled his tones with electric power As he went on, the sullen faces of his hearers grew animated; the superstitious fears that Tohoain they arriors, and their blood kindled and their pulses throbbed to the words of their invincible leader He saw it, and began to speak of the battles they theained More than one dark cheek flushed darker and more than one hand moved unconsciously to the knife He alluded to the recent war and to the rebellious tribe that had been destroyed
”_That_,” said he, ”was the people Toho over the death-trail in his dreaht of death should fill the air, e have slain a whole people at a single blow! Do we not know too that their spirits would try to frighten our dreamers with omens and bad _tomanowos_? Was it not bad _tomanowos_ that Tohomish saw? It could not have come from the Great Spirit, for he spoke to our fathers and said that we should be strongest of all the tribes as long as the Bridge of the Gods should stand Have the stones of that bridge begun to cruroeak?”
He then described the natural bridge which, as tradition and geology alike tell us, spanned at that time the Columbia at the Cascades The Great Spirit, he declared, had spoken; and as he had said, so it would be Dreae was rock, and the word of the Great Spirit stood forever On this tradition the chief dith treainst the superstition that Tohomish had roused the still e,--a superstition so interwoven with every thought and hope of the Willamettes that it had become a part of their character as a tribe
And nohen their lohen the recital of their fathers' deeds had stirred their blood and the portrayal of their own victories filled theain with the fierce joy of conflict, when the mountain of stone that arched the Columbia had risen before them in assurance of doleamed desire of battle and every heart was aflame, the chief made (and it was characteristic of hi appeal,--
”Chiefs, speak your heart Shall the runners be sent out to call the council?”
There was a moment of intense silence Then a low, deep murmur of consent came from the excited listeners: a half-smothered war-cry burst from the lips of Mishlah, and the victory on
One only sat silent and apart, his robe drawn close, his head bent down, seened to inevitable doo, the runners will go out Let the chiefs iven them to be carried to the tribes The talk is ended”
CHAPTER II
THE WAR-CHIEF AND THE SEER
Cassandra's wild voice prophesying woe
PHILIP BOURKE MARSTON
The war-chief left the grove as soon as he had dismissed the council
Tohoether, the one erect andlike a shadow by his side
At length Multnoiant cottonwood and looked sternly at Tohohtened the council to-day with bad _mimaluse_ [death] talk
Why did you do it? Why did you bring into a council of warriors drea in the sun by the door of the am?”
”I said what my eyes saw and my ears heard, and it was true”
”It cannot be true, for the Great Spirit has said that the Willae shall stand; and how can it fall when it is a e expression crossed Tohomish's sullen face
”Multnoe Lean not your hand on it, for it is as if you put it forth to lean it on a coiled rattlesnake”