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Show 272 lighter and I rode as lightly as I could. My big rangy blooded horse could cover forty miles between dawn and sunset without leaving a walk. I looked carefully to his shoes, r:roomed him well night and morning, and kept !urn fed up on oats. The result was that the long journey hardened mstead of weakening him. The farther we went, the more careful I became of the splendid animal. I began to fear that I soon might have utmost need of his utmost speed and endurance. By the time we reached Fillmore I had heard enough to make me _suspect that all was not well with the emtgrant tram. At the Stakes along Lake Utah the people had been too intent upon war talk to mention the Arkansans. But farther south I had heard remarks that greatly disquieted me. First to rouse my concern were vanous hateful jests on the worn condition. of t_he stock belonging to the train. When I made mqmry, I was told that Brigham had sent General Smtth and Jake Waller ahead of the train to counsel the Saints that no food or fodder should be sold to the emigrants. Heavy as was the hand of the Prophet in Salt Lake City, it was still heavier in these outlying settlements where, almost to a man, the Saints were rude and ignorant and most intensely fanatical. The harvests had been abundant. The fanners were everywhere over-supplied with oats and corn, bacon and flour, fruit, vegetables, butter, eggs and cheese-all the many products that heretofore they had been glad to barter to the Gentiles of the Cahfomia trams for their surplus tea and coffee and sugar. Yet so strictly was Brigham's counsel obeyed that when the Arkansans passed through Ftllmore they were already on short allowance and their cattle were gaunt and weak for lack of grain. There was rich pasture in the valleys along the trail. But the oxen, outworn by thetr long haul across the plains and mountains to Salt Lake Ctty, could not feed up on grass alone without rest, and the THE MORMON LION 273 Arkansans had not dared to linger. Every day's delay would have increased their danger of perishing from hunger while crossing the desert between the Southern Settlements and San Bernardino. So the trains had dragged on south from Fillmore, ever slower and slower. At Corn Creek the Indians, more humane than the Saints, had sold the emigrants thirty bushels of corn, all that they could spare. But the Samts had refused to grind it into meal. When 1 made inquiry of the people of the small settlements north of Parowan, they openly cursed the innocent travellers as God's enemies. Many asserted that the hands of the Arkansans were red with the blood of the Prophet Joseph, and they exulted over their obedience to counsel, which they felt certain had doomed the train to famine. Without more food than the emigrants had been able to bring south with them, it was not possible for them to cross the desert. I became greatly alarmed. The spectre of the handcart train haunted me. Was Lucy again to suffer the agonies of slow starvation ? There could be no doubt as to Chilcott's attitude towards the unfortunate emigrants. He joined freely with our informants in their curses and slanders. Echoing this fanatical vituperation with all the zeal I could feign, I began to plan how, provided with a horse for Lucy and two or three pack mules loaded with provisions, I could dash ahead of my companion out into the desert. Once I had overtaken the train, I could bear Lucy on to California ; there to outfit a wagon and return with provisions for the good people who had helped her escape from the Basm. With her safe in Los Angeles, I could take my chances of meeting and openly defying Chilcott. But at Parowan all my plans met with a sudden check. We rode into the town late in the afternoon. Chilcott's horse had gone lame and we had made only twenty-five miles since morning. We at once noticed s |