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Show 274 THE MORMON LION an unusual absence of able-bodied men in and around the town. Chilcott stopped a venerable-_looking white-haired patriarch to ask the cause of thts. The Elder lifted hts palsted hands and quavered venomously : " Ye hevn't hern tell of the bloody cusses? The Lord our God hev lifted the rod of His wrath to smite the sinful Gentiles. The Ptedes beleaguered 'em four days gone, down at the Mountain Medder~, a11;', all the milishy hereabouts hev marched to help em. .\ M . L "The Piedes? " I inquired. "Why, a1or ee told me th~! the whole tribe would run from a dozen whtte men. " 1· d "Paint an' feythers ain't hard to put on, rep te the Elder and he winked at Chilcott. "Yet there's no t elling with Indians!" I continued too alarmed to heed the old fellow 's sly look. "The 'whole party may be massacred before-- Tell me! When did the militia go?". . "Them what ain't a'ready there wtll gtt th~re tonight, I reckon; but meb~e not ttll mornm_g. I turned to Chilcott. ' My horse ts still fresh. I'll ride on and join the militia. I can reach the Meadows by morning." . " Better not," he said. " You could do It, but you may as well- - " .. ' I must go on! "I cried. " I must do my part. .. " There's no call for you to be so zealous, Dave, he advised. " There must be enough mthttamen to settle the business." . . "Just the same, I'm going to do it," I reJomed, and I snrang off to adjust my saddle. r. You sure are full of the spirit," he said. "Makes me think I'd like to have a hand in the shindy myself. I'll get another horse and ride with you to Cedar Ctty. When we get there we can tell better about pushing on to the Meadows. Give your horse some oat~ whtle I hunt up another pony. That c~l,d snack m my saddlebag will last us to Cedar Ctty. My hope of leaving him behind was dashed. To THE MORMON LION 275 have ridden off without him would have roused his suspicions of me, after all my etiorts to win his absolute conftdence .... Yet had I known the truth, not even his levelled rifle could have kept me from attempting to race ahead. I had mtsunderstood the Elder's ambiguous statement. I had presumed he meant that the militia had marched to the relief of the besieged emigrants. The possibility of any other construction of his remark did not occur to me. That the militia had gone to help Indians massacre white men and women and children was too atrocious to be imagined. Yet I had lived in Zion. Chilcott was in a taciturn mood and had little to say either at the start or on the way. A word might have enlightened me. But he had mistaken my eagerness to indicate that I fully understood the situation ; and I was too full of my own anxiety and fresh scheming to ask questions. Nor did we stop on the way to inquire the particulars of the Indian attack on the emigrants. We reached Cedar City an hour after nightfall. Though the largest of the Southern Settlements, the town was as dark and silent as a graveyard. After knocking at several doors and being turned away by women who said they were alone, we were at last given shelter by a grey-haired wife of lohn D. Lee. In answer to my anxious question i the emigrants were safe, the woman mumbled drowsily that they were still in their fortifications. At the same time she handed me a lighted lantern, and Chilcott broke in with a request that I look to the horses. When I returned from the barn, Mrs. Lee had disa_vpeared and Chtlcott was outstretched on a rough shakedown " that she had spread for us on the floor. " The moon won't rise till about midnight " he said. "We may as well get some sleep." ' " I'd rather go on as soon as the horses finish their oats," I replied. " That pony is no account as a walker, and we |