Twelve Mormon Homes : Twelve Mormon homes visited in succession on a journey through Utah to Arizona.

Twelve Mormon Homes, page 035

"It happened," she went on, "that the next day was Sunday. I could not go to meeting, having a bad headache. As I sat by the window reading my Bible, I saw Indians come stealing by until they completely surrounded the church. They were all armed, and I was too much terrified to leave my seat, either to hide my- self or to make an effort to warn the congregation. Baptiste was leader of the band; and after a few minutes, he stripped and danced into the church naked." "Oh ! " I exclaimed, involuntarily, "what did he do that for?" "I wondered, too," she answered; "but I learned that it was done to banter them-that is," she explained, replying to my look of interrogation- "to insult them by indecent behavior, and make them turn him out. That would have given him an excuse to work himself and his band into a fighting rage. That's the way with the poor creatures, you know. Some of their grandest warriors seem to need to work themselves up into a kind of i hysterical passion, before they are brave enough to attack our people when they affect not to mind them. "Baptiste was disappointed. One of the brethren sitting near a window bethought himself to look out, and seeing the Indians, warned the rest. So they took no notice of Baptiste; but con- tinued the services, only singing a little louder in the hymn parts, perhaps; and Baptiste stood awhile, then sat down, and then stole out, and took his band away. "Some say," she interrupted herself with a smile, "that he thought that a great `medicine' was going on, and considering himself a brother of the craft, withdrew from courtesy. "Whatever his motive was, we took it as a warning; the set- tlers were all moved into the Fort; and three days after, the 35