Gretchen saw that her spirit, through the violin, had calmed the sea.  She was sure now that she had rightly read her mission in life.  Amid the scene of glimmering peace-pipes, a heavenly presence seemed near her.  She had broken the traditions of centuries by the sympathetic thrill of four simple strings.  She felt that Von Weber was there in spirit, and Schumann.  She felt that her father’s soul was near her; but, more than all, she felt that she was doing the work of the Great Commission.  She bowed her head on the instrument, thought of poor, terrorized Mrs. Woods in her lonely home, and wept.

A seen and unseen world had come to her—­real life.  She saw her power; the gates of that mysterious kingdom, in which the reborn soul is a new creation, had been opened to her.  Her spirit seemed to rise as on new-created wings, and the world to sink beneath her.  She had spiritual sight, ears, and senses—­a new consciousness of Divine happiness.  Her purpose became strong to live for the soul alone, and she sung, over and over again, amid the silence of the peace-pipes and the rising of those puffs of smoke in the silver illumination of the high moon—­

    “In the deserts let me labor,
      On the mountains let me tell.”

CHAPTER XV.

THE TRAUMEREI AGAIN.

An hour passed in this mysterious and strange tranquillity—­the noon hour of night.  The warriors seemed contented and satisfied.  Many of them were old; some of them remembered the coming of the first ships to the Columbia, and a few of them the long visit of Vancouver.  They knew the wisdom of Umatilla, and seemed proud that his will had been so readily obeyed.

But not so with the biters.  They were young, and they had plotted on this night to begin hostilities against the settlers.  Their plan had been to burn the log school-house and the house of the Woodses, and to make a captive of Mrs. Woods, whose hostile spirit they wished to break and punish.  Soon after the quiet scene at midnight they began to be restless.  Their cries arose here and there about the margin of the plateau and along the river.

The old chief knew their feelings, and saw the stormy ripples here and there.  He arose slowly, and called: 

“My people, draw near.”

The tribe gathered about the platform.  The young braves knew what the old chief was about to say, and their cries of discontent grew loud and multiplied.

“The log school-house!” shrieked one, in a voice of rage.

“Pil-pil!” cried another. “Pil-pil!” echoed many voices.  A tumult followed, and Gretchen started up from her reverie, and heard among the restless murmurs the name of Mrs. Woods.

She felt a nervous terror for a moment, but her spiritual sense and faith, which had come to her like a new-born life, returned to her.

She arose on the platform and took her violin, and looked down upon the sea of dusky faces in the smoky moonlight.  She drew her bow.  The music quivered.  There was a lull in the excited voices.  She played low, and there followed a silence.