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Show Page 71 43 he disappeared from sight. Orson, meanwhile, was defenseless, on foot, and surrounded by the crashing and swearing of the pursuing horsemen. He fell face-down into a gully and dared not move until the darkness was complete; several times he and Clark were nearly discovered as the crowd stamped all around them. At midnight, the two men arose and began slowly picking their way through the forest. A long walk of several days brought them back to the Mississippi shore and across to Quincy, where Orson sought out Parley's wife: "Have you seen my husband?" "I have." "Is he yet alive?" "Yes." "Is he well?" "He is." "0 thank God for that! Is there any prospect that he will ever get free and return alive?" At this Orson must have smiled. "Well, I hope so; for the last time I saw him he was astride a horse in the woods, and headed towards home on 44 a gallop." Their joy was mitigated, of course, by the clear understanding that armed parties would await Parley at the known ferries and that he could easily be re-taken within site of the shores of Illinois. A group of Mormons took their weapons and stole across into Missouri to try to find the fugitive apostle. Orson had learned that King Follett was re-taken, for Phelps had already achieved Quincy when he arrived. That left Parley alone in the middle of the wolves, and it is quite probable that Orson joined the clandestine search on the Missouri shores. |