III.
THE EXECUTION.
The great market place was the heart of the city. The streets, like so many arteries, emptied into its pulsating center. There all the buying and selling went on. Here was a fruit stand from which a bronze Lamanitish goddess flicked the flies. Yonder was a clothier's containing garments of chameleon dyes. There were cafes, candy stands, butcher shops, fish from the lake, venders of pottery, and makers of lace. The band played there in the afternoon, and lovers sought the shade of its arbors in the evening.
This morning something of unusual occurrence was about to happen. People were running hither and thither. There was a hushed murmur of excitement among the crowds, which were larger than on any market day. Four regiments of soldiers were stationed at the comers, while a fifth was keeping the people back from an open space in the middle of the square.
"Wherefore the crowd?" asked the countryman who had just brought his cart of vegetables to the city that morning, of a young man who was hurrying to the scene.
The other looked at him in surprise, "Why, they are going to burn the Prophet Abinadi."
"They're not going to burn him alive?"
"How do you think they'd burn him—dead?" he threw back over his shoulder, as he hurried on.
The crowd was impatient.
"Light the fire, and let us see if this false prophet is pluckily true to his convictions."
"What are they waiting for?" called another.
There was a blare of trumpets, a blast of martial music, and then the cry, "Make way for the king!"
On a palanquin, borne aloft on the shoulders of men, surmounted by a green canopy, reclined the king. As soon as he reached the place of execution he ordered the soldiers to bring forth the prisoner. When Abinadi, sustained by the heroism of martyrdom, but very weak and trembling physically, stood before him, Noah pronounced sternly: "Abinadi, we have found an accusation against thee and thou art worthy of death; for thou hast said that God himself should come down among the children of men, and now for this cause thou shalt be put to death, unless thou wilt recall all the words thou hast spoken evil concerning me and my people."
With a hunted look in his eyes Abinadi answered: "I will not recall the words I have spoken unto you concerning this people, for they are true. I will suffer even unto death. I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you. And if ye slay me, ye will shed innocent blood, and this shall stand as a testimony against you at the last day."
The words touched even the callous heart of Noah, and he was half convinced. He turned to the priests.
"Shall we release him?"
"Death to Abinadi, he has reviled the king!" was the shout.
"Death to Abinadi!"
"Let his God delay the flames!"
"He says we shall all be captives to the Lamanites!"
"Down with false prophets!"
Amid the maledictions, they bound Abinadi to the stake and lighted the fagots under his feet.
As the flames licked his quivering limbs, and he writhed in agony, he looked into the faces of the terror-stricken populace and said in accents thick, "It will come to pass that ye shall be afflicted with all manner of diseases because of your iniquities. Yea, and ye shall be smitten on every hand, and shall be driven and scattered to and fro, even as a wild flock is driven by wild and ferocious beasts. And in that day ye shall be hunted, and ye shall be taken by the hand of your enemies."
As the flames mounted higher and higher, and the victim writhed in agony, a young man, with sunny hair, made his way out of the crowd, for he could stand it no longer. Henceforth he was the disciple of the dead prophet, and the blood of martyrdom had won its first convert in Alma.
His was not the only sick heart, for when the agonized victim looked out of his pain-dimmed eyes and said prophetically to Noah, "Ye shall suffer, as I suffer, the pains of death by fire," the king called suddenly, "Ho, take me hence!"