Part 25 (1/2)
Then he drew his robe close around hiht
BOOK V
_THE SHADOW OF THE END_
CHAPTER I
THE HAND OF THE GREAT SPIRIT
”We view as one who hath an evil sight,”
He answered, ”plainly objects far reht caon Indians, and destined to be reeneration had passed away The sky was thick with clouds; the at in the still weather, shut out the entire horizon The volcano was invisible in the ss came to therove of council Multnoht before, but al yet of superstitious fear Mishlah's face was haggard, his air startled and uneasy, like that of sohtened; and even Snoquale of all was in Tohohastly as that of a corpse, and he ca in a dull lifeless way, as if hardly aware of what he was doing Those nearest to hi to one another that the seer looked like a dead man
Cecil caht had told almost fatally on a frame already worn out by years of toil and sickness His cheek was pale, his eye hollow, his step slow and faltering like one whose fla very low The pain at his heart, alorse in tiitated and restless; he had tried hard to give Wallulah into the hands of God and feel that she was safe, but he could not
For hi with pain for her By virtue of his own keen sympathies, he anticipated and felt all that the years had in store for her,--the loneliness, the heartache, the trying to care for one she loathed; until he shrank from her desolate and hopeless future as if it had been his own All his soul went out to her in yearning tenderness, in passionate desire to shi+eld her and to take away her burden
But his resolution never wavered Below the ebb and flow of feeling, the decision to ranite He could not bear to look upon her face again; he could not bear to see her wedded to Snoqualmie He intended toto accept the gospel of peace; then he would leave the council before Wallulah was brought to it So he sat there noaiting for the ”talk” to begin
The bands gathered around the grove were smaller than usual Many had fled from the valley at dawn to escape fro htened No war could have appalled the of the solid earth under their feet All the abject, superstition of their natures was roused They looked like rasp of some supernatural power
Multno that two runners had arrived with news that ; the one from the sea-coast, the other from up the Columbia They would coht
The runner from the upper Columbia spoke first He had come thirty miles since dawn He seemed unnerved and fearful, like one about to announce soerly to hear
”_The Great Spirit has shaken the earth, and the Bridge of the Gods has fallen!_”
There was the silence of aues the wild and wondering e of the Gods has fallen!” With it, too, went the recollection of the ancient prophecy that when the Bridge fell the power of the Willae was broken, and the dominion of the Willamettes was broken forever with it At another ti jealousy of the tribes would have burst forth in terrific vengeance on the doomed race But they were dejected and afraid In the fall of the Bridge they saw the hand of the Great Spirit, a visitation of God And so Willamette and tributary alike heard the neith fear and apprehension Only Multnoe before it was spoken, listened with his wonted composure
”It is well,” he said, with hter of Multnomah is to become the wife of Snoqualmie the Cayuse, and the new line that coive new chiefs to head the confederacy of the Wauna The old gives way to the new That is the sign that the Great Spirit gives in the fall of the Bridge
Think you it one froer prevail in battle? No, no! who thinks it?”
The proud old sacheiant form towered over the hty and scornful glance that swept council and audience like a challenge to battle
”Is there a chief here that thinks it? Let hirapple, and see Is there a tribe that thinks it? We reach out our arms to them; we are ready Let them meet us in battle now, to-day, and know if our hearts have becoive you dark and bloody proof that our to”
He stood with outstretched arms, from which the robe of fur had fallen back A thrill of dread went through the asserim defiance; then Snoqualmie spoke
”The heart of all the tribes is as the heart of Multnomah Let there be peace”