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 mes senger from Multnomah, who had seen the Cayuses a r soon as they emerged on the beach.
"Send your packs over in canoes, swim youi 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 fol lowed 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 pad dled out into the stream, and the horse partly pulled, partly pushed into the river. The others after much beating followed their leader; and in a little while a long line of half submerged horses and riders was struggling across the river, while the loaded canoes brought up the rear. The rapid current swept them downward, and they landed on the opposite bank at a point far below that from which they started.
On the bank of the Columbia, near Morgan s Lake, an old gnarled cottonwood still marks the ancient landing-place; and traces remain of the historic trail which led up from the river-bank into the interior of the island, a trail traversed perhaps for centuries, the great Indian road from the upper Columbia to the Willamette valley.
The bank was black with people crowding out to see the latest arrivals. It was a thronging m
