It is thirteen hundred miles from Iowa City to Salt Lake Valley, and it requires fifteen weeks of constant travelling to accomplish the distance.
Of the first division of five hundred Mormons, who left Iowa City in July to trundle their hand-carts to Salt Lake, one hundred and twenty perished miserably before reaching their destination.
Their cattle starved or died from overwork, their provisions gave out, winter overtook them while they were still five hundred miles from the valley, and it was no uncommon thing for them to wake up in the morning and find from three to fifteen of their number cold in death.
Of the second company of six hundred, which left the Missouri in August, only four hundred and fifty reached the valley; and out of the whole number—two thousand—three hundred were starved, frozen, or devoured by wolves, and two hundred were maimed for life.
Frank knew all this, for he had read a full account of it; but it did not daunt him, for he believed that in some mysterious way he would be able to escape the perils that fell to the lot of other travellers on the plains.
"I'll not say a word to Leon about the dangers they encountered," soliloquized Frank, "for if I do, it will take all the pluck out of him. He hasn't even courage enough to run away from a tyrant of a father—I can see that plainly enough; but as I am determined to go myself, and he has money, while I have none to speak of, I must get him interested in the matter. Now, how am I going to do it? That's the question."
Frank, relapsing into silence, placed his hands behind his back and resumed his walk up and down the room, turning the question over in his mind. If he had only known it, there was no need that he should trouble himself about the matter, for that very night an incident happened that turned the scale in his favor.
While he was wondering what he could say that would induce his cousin to fall in with his wild scheme, the supper-bell rang.
The truants would have been glad of an excuse for disregarding the summons, but knowing that if they did not answer it immediately, somebody would come upstairs to see about it, they made a hasty toilet and descended to the dining room.