t the Cascades. The
Great Spirit, he declared, had spoken; and as he had said, so it would
be. Dreams and omens were mist and shadow, but the bridge was rock,
and the word of the Great Spirit stood forever. On this tradition the
chief dwelt with tremendous force, setting against the superstition
that Tohomish had roused the still more powerful superstition of the
bridge,--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 now when their martial enthusiasm and fatalistic courage were all
aglow, when the recital of their fathers' deeds had stirred their
blood and the portrayal of their own victories filled them again with
the fierce joy of conflict, when the mountain of stone that arched the
Columbia had risen before them in assurance of dominion as eternal as
itself,--now, when in every eye gleamed desire of battle and every
heart was aflame, the chief made (and it was characteristic of him) in
one terse sentence his crowning 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 was won.

One only sat silent and apart, his robe drawn close, his head bent
down, seemingly oblivious of all around him, as if resigned to
inevitable doom.

"To-morrow at dawn, while the light is yet young, the runners will go
out. Let the chiefs meet here in the grove to hear the message given
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.
Tohomish went with him. For some distance they walked together, the
one erect and majestic, the other gliding like a shadow by his side.

At length Multnomah stopped under a giant cottonwood and looked
sternly at Tohomish.

"You frightened the council to-day with bad _mimaluse_ [death] talk.
Why did you do it? Why did you bring into a council of warriors dreams
fit only for old men that lie sleeping in the sun by the door of the
wigwam?"

"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 th