Under these circumstances the brethren thought best to return home.
In the fall of 1860, I was directed to make another effort to establish a mission in some of the Moqui towns, and take with me George A. Smith, Jr., son of the late President George A. Smith.
I left the Santa Clara in October with a company of nine men: Thales Haskell, George A. Smith, Jr., Jehiel McConnell, Ira Hatch, Isaac Riddle, Amos Thornton, Francis M. Hamblin, James Pierce, and an Indian we called Enos. We took sufficient to sustain us in the Moqui country for one year.
In speaking at a public meeting the day before leaving, I said I felt different from what I had ever previously done on leaving home; that something unusual would happen. What it would be I did not know. Whether we should ever see home again or not I did not know, but I knew we were told to go among the Moquis and stay for one year, and that I should do so if I could get there.
When we arrived at the crossing of the Colorado River, I again felt the same gloomy forebodings I spoke of before leaving home.
On the morning before crossing, the brethren said I had spoken discouragingly several times, and they wished to know if there was any one in the company that I did not wish to go on.
I assured them that there was no one that I did not wish to go along, but I knew there would be something happen that would be very unpleasant, and that there would be very hard times for some of us.
Young George A. Smith said: "You will see one thing, that is, I will stick to it to the last. That is what I came for."
We all crossed the Colorado River with a firm determination to do the best we could to fill our mission.
The second day's travel from the river we found no water, as we had expected, and what little we had brought with us was exhausted.