Chapter 4 AN
INDIAN TRIAL.Like flame within the n***d hand
His body bore his burning heart.
Dante Rossetti.
Wappatto Island had seen many gatherings of the tribes, but
never before had it seen so large an assembly as on the opening day
of the council. The great cottonwoods of the council-grove waved
over an audience of sachems and warriors the like of which the
oldest living Indian could not remember.
No weapons were to be seen, for Multnomah had commanded that all
arms be left that day in the lodges. But the dissatisfied Indians
had come with weapons hidden under their robes of deer or wolf
skin, which no one should have known better than Multnomah. Had he
taken any precautions against surprise? Evidently not. A large body
of Willamette warriors, muffled in their blankets, l
