“Why,” replied he, “I was just wondering, when I heard the first explosion, how many of the men you sent against my friends this morning would come back alive; but when I heard the second one, I came to the satisfactory conclusion that not one of them would ever see East Utah again.”
The guard looked angry for a moment, but then smiled and said, “You are a bold man; however, we shall see.”
Soon after, Grenville was hurried away to his prison, and that night he heard wailing and lamentations in the city, and knew that he had guessed the truth, that another fearful calamity had befallen the Mormons, and that his friends at the plateau were now practically safe from further molestation.
Chapter Fourteen.
Dark Days.
Leaving poor Grenville in his dismal prison, we must now return for the time being to our friends at the plateau.
Despite the awful storm which followed Grenville’s departure, Leigh and Myzukulwa kept diligent guard, for both were determined that they would never again be caught napping. One of Grenville’s last instructions to Leigh had been to keep a double watch every night, and to at once get an enormous pile of thorn-bushes up to the plateau, “when,” said he, “you can make a chevaux de frise at the top of the path, which will keep the whole Mormon nation fully employed whilst you shoot them.”
In the very height of the storm the watchers, by a flash of lightning, saw a figure approaching their position, and Leigh at once challenged, but received no reply. The next flash, however, showed him that the nocturnal wanderer was Amaxosa. The chief stalked up the path, shook himself like a great dog, and then, without saying a single word, entered the cave, deposited Grenville’s weapons on the floor, and lay down by the fire.