"All right," I answered.
Brigham called me and said he could not spare me; that there were men enough to fill the bill without me. The battalion was filled, and Col. Allen, a United States officer, marched with them to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
From Council Bluffs I returned to Missouri, to buy a drove of cattle for Brigham, Dr. Richards, and others, they having received money from England. I loaded twenty wagons with provisions and articles for trade and exchange. I exchanged horses for oxen, as the latter were low and the former high in price. About the middle of August I returned with over five hundred head of cattle.
While I was gone the camp moved across the Missouri River, to a place called Cutler's Park. The cattle swam the river, but the provision train was still on the Iowa side. Grant and some of Brigham's men, teamsters and waiters, crossed back for a couple of loads of provisions for Brigham. Without saying a word to me they took from my train their supply of provisions.
When I heard of it I was ruffled, as this train was in my charge and I was responsible for it. I went to Grant, who seemed to be the leader, and told him he had not acted the gentleman in interfering with what did not belong to him. We had warm words, and had not others interfered would have come to blows. He justified himself by saying that Brigham sent him. I told him I did not care who sent him - there was a right way and a wrong way of doing things. The feeling grew bitter between us, and he accused me of doing wrongful acts in my office.
Finally Brigham called us together in the presence of the twelve apostles, and we made our statements. My accusers said what they had to say, and then I replied. When Brigham had heard our statements he scolded my accusers sharply, and approved of what I had done. He then said that we must not have ill-feeling, and directed us to shake hands and be friends. I was the first that arose to comply. We shook hands; still, though we agreed to drop the matter, the old spirit lingered, even after we had crossed the plains.
CHAPTER XVI - LEE GOES TO SANTA FE
We got into camp the next day. After striking camp I noticed that a tire was gone from one of the wagons. A few days afterwards the mother of my first wife went down to a stream near by and caught a number of fine fish; on her way back to the camp she found the missing tire. It had rolled nearly three hundred yards from the road, and was lying where it stopped.