The Great Gatsby, the drums of his destiny

Could you please tell me what the narrator means by the phrase "drums of his destiny" in the following excerpt of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, chapter Six? Is this just a variant of "the trumpet blast of Fame"?

An instinct toward his future glory had led him, some months before, to the small Lutheran college of St. Olaf in southern Minnesota. He stayed there two weeks, dismayed at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny, to destiny itself, and despising the janitor’s work with which he was to pay his way through.

Thank you.