s us all
with its arrows, even as a herd of deer, driven into a deep gulch and surrounded, stand till they are shot down by the hunters? Shall we stay in our lodges, and die without lifting a hand? Shall disease burn out the life of our warriors, when they might fall in battle? No! Let us slay the women and children, cross the mountains, and die fighting the rebels! Is it not better to fall in battle like warriors than to perish of disease like dogs?"
The chief looked from face to face, but saw no responsive flash in the eyes that met his own. The settled apathy of despair was on every countenance. Then the medicine-man answered,
"You could never cross the mountains, even if we did this thing. Your breath is hot with disease; the mark of death is on your face; the snake of the pesti lence has bitten you. If we went out to battle, you would fall by the wayside to die. Your time is short. To-day you die."
The grim Mollalie met the speaker s glance, and for a moment wavered. He felt within himself that the words were true, that the plague had sapped his life, that his hour was near at hand. Then his hesi tation passed, and he lifted his head with scornful defiance.
"So be it! Mishlah accepts his doom. Come, you that were once the warriors of Multnomah, but whose hearts are become the hearts of women j come and learn from a Mollalie how to die!"
Again his glance swept the circle of chiefs as if summoning them to follow him, then, with weak and staggering footsteps, he left the grove; and it was as if the last hope of the Willamettes went wi
