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Show 226 THE MORMON LION Go. Do not lose another moment. See, I am almost home. Go at once I " I obeyed, wondering at the transformation in this timorous irresolute lady. Instead of crushmg her spirit, her anguish had uplifted and strengthened her. Like a harp, she rang truest when under great stram. Chilcott had returned my horse to the own~r. who lived near the Senbys'. Tlunkmg that I m1ght be able again to borrow the splend1d beast, I turned mto the yard where I saw him cantenng about w1th half a dozen ragged children on his bare back. He showed no signs of his hard ride. It occurred to me that I could not have a better mount if I should be forced to attempt escape by flight. I resolved to buy him. The owner proved to be a poor man, and gold was very scarce in the Basin. When lame and outworn from the long tnp across the Plains the horse had been traded to him by emigrants' at a very low valuation, and he had little use for him. I rode out of the lot, the owner of the beautiful thoroughbred. On my way through the city I took occasion to inform several acquaintances that Bngham had sent me with an order for the cursed Genhles to roll on south. Having thus explained my errand, I galloped straight down to the camp of the em1grants on the Jordan. . My first sight of the many wagons and carnages told me that the party was the largest and best equipped one that had come through from the East since my return from California. There were fifty or sixty horses and mules and between s1x and e1ght hundred head of cattle grazing in the low meadows along the Jordan. Though they were lean and footsore, I could see that they were all good stock. The emigrants had enjoyed one day's rest in camp after their wearisome journey from the States. They were still lying languidly about their tents and wagons. But I noted with pleasure that the children and men were neat and cleanly as well as the women. That THE MORMON LION 227 they were vastly superior to the usual rough class of em1grants was apparent in their refined faces and the genial courtesy with which they responded to my greeting. I estimated that they numbered from a hundred to a hundred and fifty souls-certainly a large enough number for one more to be added without the fact being noticeable to strangers. When I asked for the captain of the train, a lank, clean-shaven man in ministerial black rose and bowed tome. " I'll take you direct to Captain Fancher, brother," he said. "Come with me." The style of his address alarmed me. As he started off towards the river, I asked in as casual a tone as I could assume : " So not all of your party are Gentiles? " " Gentiles ? You mean-- Excuse me, brother. Reckon you counted on some of us being Mormons. I 'll have to disappoint you on that. We're all what you call Gentiles." " You said ' brother,' " I replied. "Excusemeifit'soffensive," he apologized. "You see we're mostly Methodists, and a minister of the Go~pel gets so in the habit of addressing the brethren and sisters of his flock--" " You say you're a minister? " I interrupted. " I've been a circuit rider in Arkansas for the past twenty years." "Can you- would you marry a couple who have learned to loathe Mormonism? " "If there is no legal or moral bar to their marriage," he agreed. " I'm not aware whether a licence is required in this Territory. - That is Captain Fancher, alone yonder by the waterside." " Thank you. Don't trouble to come any farther. I may see you later this evening about the other matter. W1ll you be in the camp? " "Yes. You'll not find many of us gadding about for a week or more. Good evening, suh." I swung back into the saddle and rode up along the |
