Page:McLoughlin and Old Oregon.djvu/256



2

Five Crows. Tauitau wore a rosary and a crucifix and there was a blue cross embroidered on 'his moccasions.

"He is a Catholic. We do not follow his worship," roared Tiloukaikt.

"I cannot accept the chieftainship," said Tauitau. " I have tried to control our young men in former time, but I am left alone to weep."

Some mentioned Five Crows. "He is a strong heart," said one. "He will not change," said another.

"Our hearts go toward him with a rush," cried all the people.

Five Crows, the most ambitious chief of all the Indian country, did not respond at once. He only bowed his head and wept. By inheritance the chieftainship belonged to Tauitau, now by election it was his.

The wind blew the tempting fragrance of a barbecued ox toward the scene of deliberation. A fat hog hung hissing over a pit of fire, and the hungry throng soon gathered around a feast on the flowery field. The sharp teeth of the Walla Walla-Cayuses and their Nez Perce" brethren made quick work of the savory menu. Chief Ellice brought out the Nez Perce" peace pipe, three feet long with a bowl like a porringer, and laid upon it a coal. The chiefs puffed first, and then the whites. As each one drew a whiff he spoke, Five Crows, Ellice, Tauitau, Yellow Serpent, one by one, as the fragrant aroma curled up by the still Walla Walla. One by one they took each other's hands and went out from the council and faced their antelopefooted horses homeward. Late at night the fires still smouldered, but where the nations camped that day only one solitary old Indian remained to boil up the feet of the barbecued ox for his next day's dinner.