Part 25 (2/2)
The chief resu one last victory from fate itself Instantly, and with consummate address, Multno could be said or done to ie He bade the other runner, the one froe
It was, in effect, this:--
A large canoe, with great white wings like a bird, had co over the waters to the coast near the mouth of the Wauna Whence it came no one could tell; but its creere pale of skin like the great white _shaman_ there in the council, and seemed of his race Some of them came ashore in a small canoe to trade with the Indians, but trouble rose between theers slewblack tubes Then they escaped to the great canoe, which spread its wings and passed away froht into the sea Many of the Indians were killed, but none of the pale-faced intruders Now the band who had suffered demanded that the white man of whom they had heard--the white chief at the council--be put to death to pay the blood-debt
All eyes turned on Cecil, and he felt that his hour was come Weak, exhausted in body and mind, wearied almost to death, a sudden and awful peril was on hirew dizzy How _could_ he ency? All his soul went out to God with a du sense of weakness Then he heard Multno to him in cold, hard tones
”The white man has heard the words of the runner What has he to say why his life should not pay the blood-debt?”
Cecil rose to his feet With one last effort he put Wallulah, himself, his mission, into the hands of God; with one last effort he forced himself to speak
Men of nervous te out of an exhausted body an energy, an outburst of final and intense effort, of which those of stronger physique do not see vital forces, and the reaction is terrible Was it this fla-up of the almost burned-out embers of life that ani to him in answer to prayer?
Be this as it may, when he opened his lips to speak, all the power of his consecration came back; physical weakness and mental anxiety left him; he felt that Wallulah was safe in the arms of the Infinite Compassion; he felt his love for the Indians, his deep yearning to help the within hirandly the Apostle to the Indians than now
In passionate tenderness, in burning appeal, in living force and power of delivery, it was the suprenored, put aside, forgot his own personal danger; but he set before his hearers the wickedness of their own systee; he showed the weight on their better natures The horror, the cruelty, the brute aniainst the love and forgiveness to which the Great Spirit called them
The hearts of the Indians were shaken within them The barbarise, the dark and cu and tender eloquence of this one man As he spoke, there cali revelation of soue longing, that indefinable wistfulness which he had so often seen on the faces of his savage audiences was on nearly every face when he closed
As he took his seat, the tide of inspiration went from him, and a deadly faintness came over him It seemed as if in that awful reaction the last spark of vitality was dying out; but soh it all, he felt at peace with God and , he cared for nothing, he si presence of the Father
Upon the sweet and lingering spell of his closing words came Multnomah's tones in stern contrast
”What is the word of the council? Shall the white man live or die?”
Snoqualmie was on his feet in an instant
”Blood for blood Let the white ave their voice for death Shaken for but a moment, the ancient inherited barbarism which was their very life reasserted itself, and they could decide no other way One, two, three of the sacheave no answer, but sat in silence They were men whose hearts had been touched before by Cecil, and ere already desiring the better life They could not condeth it came to Tohomish He arose His face, always repulsive, was pallid now in the extreme The swathed corpses on _hastly
He essayed to speak; thrice the words faltered on his lips; and when at last he spoke, it was in a weary, lifeless way His tones startled the audience like an electric shock The one from his voice; its accents were discordant, uncertain Could the death's head before them be that of Tohomish?
Could those harsh and broken tones be those of the Pine Voice? He seemed like a man whose animal life still survived, but whose soul was dead
What he said at first had no relation to the matter before the council Every Indian had his _tomanowos_ appointed him by the Great Spirit froth of his life Its influence greith his growth; the roots of his being were fed in it; it imparted its characteristics to him But the name and nature of his _torave If it was told, the charm was lost and the _tomanowos_ deserted hie and the foreknowledge of its fall: a black secret that had darkened his whole life, and ie and e was fallen, the strength was gone from Tohomish's heart, the music from his words
”Tohomish has no voice now,” he continued; ”he is as one dead He desires to say only this, then his words shall be heard no n that not only the Willamettes but all the tribes of the Wauna shall fall and pass away Another people shall take our place, another race shall reign in our stead, and the Indian shall be forgotten, or remembered only as a di us our doom? Look on the face of the white wanderer there; listen to the story of your brethren slain at the sea-coast by the white men in the canoe, and you will know They coer, and push us out into the dark The white wanderer talks of peace; but the Great Spirit has put death between the Indian and the white man, and where he has put death there can be no peace
”Slay the white man as the white race will slay your children in the time that is to come Peace? love? There can be only war and hate
Striking back blow for blow like a wounded rattlesnake, shall the red man pass; and when the bones of the last Indian of the Wauna lie bleaching on the prairie far from the _mimaluse_ island of his fathers, then there will be peace