iries where the grass waved rank and high, and sunny
banks where the strawberries were ripening in scarlet masses. And ever
and anon they caught sight of a far snow peak lifted above the endless
reach of forest, and through openings in the trees caught glimpses of
the Columbia spreading wide and beautiful between densely wooded
shores whose bending foliage was literally washed by the waters.

At length, as the sun was setting, they emerged from the wood upon a
wide and level beach. Before them swept the Columbia, broader and
grander than at any previous view, steadily widening as it neared the
sea. Opposite them, another river, not as large as the Columbia, but
still a great river, flowed into it.

"Willamette," said the young runner, pointing to this new river.
"Wappatto Island," he added, indicating a magnificent prospect of wood
and meadow that lay just below the mouth of the Willamette down along
the Columbia. Cecil could not see the channel that separated it from
the mainland on the other side, and to him it seemed, not an island,
but a part of the opposite shore.

Around them on the beach were groups of Indians, representatives of
various petty tribes who had not yet passed to the island of council.
Horses were tethered to the driftwood strewed along the beach; packs
and saddles were heaped on the banks awaiting the canoes that were to
carry them over. Across the river, Cecil could see upon the island
scattered bands of ponies feeding and many Indians passing to and fro.
Innumerable lodges showed among the trees. The river was dotted with
canoes. Never before had he beheld so large an encampment, not even
among the Six Nations or the Sioux. It seemed as if all the tribes of
Puget Sound and the Columbia were there.

As they halted on the bank, a little canoe came skimming over the
water like a bird. It bore a messenger from Multnomah, who had seen
the Cayuses as soon as they emerged on the beach.

"Send your packs over in canoes, swim your horses, camp on the
island," was the laconic message. Evidently, in view of the coming
struggle, Multnomah wanted the loyal Cayuses close at hand.

In a little while the horses were stripped of their packs, which were
heaped in the canoes that had followed the messenger, and the crossing
began. A hair rope was put around the neck of a horse, and the end
given to a man in a canoe. The canoe was then paddled out into the
stream, and the horse partly pulled, partly pushed into