l of fire. Then I knew that the power was on me, and I fell,
and all grew black.

"I dreamed a dream.

"I stood by the death-trail that leads to the spirit-land. The souls
of those who had just died were passing; and as I gazed, the wail I
had heard in the forest came back, but nearer than before. And as the
wail sounded, the throng on the death-trail grew thicker and their
tread swifter. The warrior passed with his bow in his hand and his
quiver swinging from his shoulder; the squaw followed with his food
upon her back; the old tottered by. It was a whole people on the way
to the spirit-land. But when I tried to see their faces, to know them,
if they were Willamette or Shoshone or our brother tribes, I could
not. But the wail grew ever louder and the dead grew ever thicker as
they passed. Then it all faded out, and I slept. When I awoke, it was
night; the fire had burned into ashes and the medicine wolf was
howling on the hills. The voices that are in the air came to me and
said, 'Go to the council and tell what you have seen;' but I refused,
and went far into the wood to avoid them. But the voices would not let
me rest, and my spirit burned within me, and I came. Beware of the
great council. Send out no runners. Call not the tribes together.
Voices and omens and dreams tell Tohomish of something terrible to
come. The trees whisper it; it is in the air, in the waters. It has
made my spirit bitter and heavy until my drink seems blood and my food
has the taste of death. Warriors, Tohomish has shown his heart. His
words are ended."

He resumed his seat and drew his robe about him, muffling the lower
part of his face. The matted hair fell once more over his drooping
brow and repulsive countenance, from which the light faded the moment
he ceased to speak. Again the silence was profound. The Indians sat
spell-bound, charmed by the mournful music of the prophet's voice and
awed by the dread vision he had revealed. All the superstition within
them was aroused. When Tohomish took his seat, every Indian was ready
to oppose the calling of the council with all his might. Even Mishlah,
as superstitious as blood-thirsty, was startled and perplexed. The
war-chief stood alone.

He knew it, but it only made his despotic will the stronger. Against
the opposition of the council and the warning of Tohomish, against
_tomanowos_ and _Spee-ough_, ominous as they were even to him, rose up
the instinct which was as much a part of him as l