“The brute! to fall, and nearly crush me, when I was so near—”
His tongue had almost betrayed him into the revelation of his secret; but he checked it in time, and continued:
“The prophet of the Lord was saved for the great work, and it is requisite that he be up and doing. Bretheren, in this day’s work you can see one of the miracles written of on the ten golden plates—one such as only those on whom the mantle of the Prophet Joseph has fallen.”
Were there ever blasphemous words like these uttered in a situation so painful? Was there ever man who had just faced a violent death capable of such hypocrisy?
“Yea, of a verity,” he continued, “we must be up and doing; for is it not written that we should let our lights shine? The horse has been given to the buzzards of the valley, but the spirit that is within man rises superior to the accidents of the moment. It is for him both to will and to do—to suffer and grow strong. Bretheren, give me a little more of the drink that is medicine in the hour of pain! Bretheren, the book revealed to the martyr Joseph teaches that the grossest sin of earth is disobedience, and shall never know the joys and privileges of the Latter Day Saints. Anathemas shall be heaped like coals of living fire upon the heads of the Gentiles who disbelieve! The keys of the kingdom were given to the rulers; they hold them in their hands, and woe be to him who disobeys! Into outer darkness shall they be cast who hearken and yet murmur!”
How much longer he would have indulged in this kind of sermonizing it would have been difficult to determine, had not one of the listeners, possessed of more courage and less blind belief than the others, interrupted him:
“Take my horse, Elder; he is sure-footed and strong. It is past noon, and unless the band moves on, we shall not only be caught in the darkness, but lose all chance of overtaking the Indians.”
At any other time the Mormon would have been sorely displeased with the interruption and advice; but now he thought only of gaining the prize he had ventured so much for, and eagerly caught at the proposition.
“It shall be as you say; and when the hour comes that our journey is finished—when the lamb of the Gentiles that has been carried away by the wolves of the Sioux shall again be restored unto her people—when her soul is secure in the fold of the saints, then will I further instruct you in the tenets of the Prophet, whose spirit was translated from the earth.”
“Mount, then, and—”