A Study In Scarlet Part 5 (2/2)
”It don't ular, but He won't mind that, you bet You say over theon as on the Plains”
”Why don't you say so eyes
”I disremember theht o' that gun I guess it's never too late You say them out, and I'll stand by and come in on the choruses”
”Then you'll need to kneel down, andthe shawl out for that purpose ”You've got to put your hands up like this It ht had there been anything but the buzzards to see it Side by side on the narrol knelt the tanderers, the little prattling child and the reckless, hardened adventurer Her chubby face, and his haggard, angular visage were both turned up to the cloudless heaven in heartfelt entreaty to that dread being hom they were face to face, while the two voices -- the one thin and clear, the other deep and harsh -- united in the entreaty for iveness The prayer finished, they resumed their seat in the shadow of the boulder until the child fell asleep, nestling upon the broad breast of her protector He watched over her slu for hihts he had allowed himself neither rest nor repose Slowly the eyelids drooped over the tired eyes, and the head sunk lower and lower upon the breast, until the old tresses of his companion, and both slept the same deep and dreamless slumber
Had the wanderer reht would have e of the alkali plain there rose up a little spray of dust, very slight at first, and hardly to be distinguished froher and broader until it formed a solid, well-defined cloud This cloud continued to increase in size until it becareatcreatures In more fertile spots the observer would have coreat herds of bisons which graze upon the prairie land was approaching him This was obviously impossible in these arid wilds As the whirl of dust drew nearer to the solitary bluff upon which the two castaere reposing, the canvas-covered tilts of waggons and the figures of arh the haze, and the apparition revealed itself as being a great caravan upon its journey for the West But what a caravan! When the head of it had reached the base of the ht across the enorons and carts, ered along under burdens, and children who toddled beside the waggons or peeped out fros This was evidently no ordinary party of irants, but rather some nomad people who had been compelled from stress of circuh the clear air a confused clattering and ru of wheels and the neighing of horses Loud as it was, it was not sufficient to rouse the two tired wayfarers above them
At the head of the colurave ironfaced ar the base of the bluff they halted, and held a short council aht, rizzly hair
”To the right of the Sierra Blanco -- so we shall reach the Rio Grande,” said another
”Fear not for water,” cried a third ”He who could draw it from the rocks will not now abandon His own chosen people”
”Amen! Amen!” responded the whole party
They were about to resuest and keenest-eyed uttered an excla above them Fro up hard and bright against the grey rocks behind At the sight there was a general reining up of horses and unslinging of guns, while fresh horseuard The word `Redskins' was on every lip
”There can't be any number of Injuns here,” said the elderly man who appeared to be in command ”We have passed the pawnees, and there are no other tribes until we cross the great erson,” asked one of the band
”And I,” ”and I,” cried a dozen voices
”Leave your horses below and ill await you here,” the Elder answered In afellows had dis the precipitous slope which led up to the object which had excited their curiosity They advanced rapidly and noiselessly, with the confidence and dexterity of practised scouts The watchers from the plain below could see theainst the skyline The youngtheh overco hiht which met their eyes
On the little plateau which crowned the barren hill there stood a single giant boulder, and against this boulder there lay a tall -bearded and hard-featured, but of an excessive thinness His placid face and regular breathing showed that he was fast asleep Beside hi his brown sinewy neck, and her golden haired head resting upon the breast of his velveteen tunic Her rosy lips were parted, showing the regular line of snohite teeth within, and a playful smile played over her infantile features Her plu in white socks and neat shoes with shi+ning buckles, offered a strange contrast to the long shrivelled e of rock above this strange couple there stood three soleht of the new comers uttered raucous screams of disappointment and flapped sullenly away
The cries of the foul birds awoke the two sleepers who stared about {20} theered to his feet and looked down upon the plain which had been so desolate when sleep had overtaken him, and which was now traversed by this enormous body of men and of beasts His face assuazed, and he passed his boney hand over his eyes ”This is what they call deliriu on to the skirt of his coat, and said nothing but looked all round her with the wondering questioning gaze of childhood
The rescuing party were speedily able to convince the two castaways that their appearance was no delusion One of theirl, and hoisted her upon his shoulder, while two others supported her gaunt coons
”My name is John Ferrier,” the wanderer explained; ”me and that little un are all that's left o' twenty-one people The rest is all dead o' thirst and hunger away down in the south”
”Is she your child?” asked souess she is now,” the other cried, defiantly; ”she's mine 'cause I saved her No man will take her froh?” he continued, glancing with curiosity at his stalwart, sunburned rescuers; ”there seeh upon ten thousand,” said one of the young men; ”we are the persecuted children of God -- the chosen of the Angel Merona”
”I never heard tell on him,” said the wanderer ”He appears to have chosen a fair crowd of ye”
”Do not jest at that which is sacred,” said the other sternly ”We are of those who believe in those sacred writings, drawn in Egyptian letters on plates of beaten gold, which were handed unto the holy Joseph Smith at Palmyra We have come from Nauvoo, in the State of Illinois, where we had founded our tee froh it be the heart of the desert”
The name of Nauvoo evidently recalled recollections to John Ferrier ”I see,” he said, ”you are the Mormons”
”We are the Mormons,” answered his co?”
”We do not know The hand of God is leading us under the person of our Prophet You must come before him He shall say what is to be done with you”
They had reached the base of the hill by this tiri children, and anxious earnest-eyed men Many were the cries of astonishment and of commiseration which arose froers and the destitution of the other Their escort did not halt, however, but pushed on, followed by a great crowd of Moron, which was conspicuous for its great size and for the gaudiness and smartness of its appearance Six horses were yoked to it, whereas the others were furnished with two, or, at most, four a-piece Beside the driver there sat a e, but whose massive head and resolute expressiona brown-backed volume, but as the crowd approached he laid it aside, and listened attentively to an account of the episode Then he turned to the two castaways
”If we take you with us,” he said, in solemn words, ”it can only be as believers in our own creed We shall have no wolves in our fold Better far that your bones should bleach in this wilderness than that you should prove to be that little speck of decay which in time corrupts the whole fruit Will you come with us on these terms?”
”Guess I'll come with you on any terrave Elders could not restrain a smile The leader alone retained his stern, ierson,” he said, ”give him food and drink, and the child likewise Let it be your task also to teach hih Forward! On, on to Zion!”
”On, on to Zion!” cried the crowd of Mor from mouth to mouth until they died away in a dullof whips and a creaking of wheels the great waggons got intoonce more The Elder to whose care the taifs had been coon, where athem
”You shall remain here,” he said ”In a few days you will have recovered froues In the ion Brigha has said it, and he has spoken with the voice of Joseph Smith, which is the voice of God”
CHAPTER II
THE FLOWER OF UTAH
THIS is not the place to corant Mormons before they came to their final haven From the shores of the Mississippi to the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains they had struggled on with a constancy ale beast, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and disease -- every impediment which Nature could place in the way, had all been overco journey and the accu them There was not one who did not sink upon his knees in heartfelt prayer when they saw the broad valley of Utah bathed in the sunlight beneath them, and learned from the lips of their leader that this was the proin acres were to be theirs for ever speedily proved himself to be a skilful administrator as well as a resolute chief Maps were drawn and charts prepared, in which the future city was sketched out All around far of each individual The trades In the town streets and squares sprang up, as if byand clearing, until the next suolden with the wheat crop Everything prospered in the strange settlereat terew ever taller and larger Froht, the clatter of the hammer and the rasp of the saas never absent frorants erected to Hiers
The two castaways, John Ferrier and the little girl who had shared his fortunes and had been adopted as his daughter, accoe Little Lucy Ferrier was borne along pleasantly enough in Elder Stangerson's waggon, a retreat which she shared with the Mor forward boy of twelve Having rallied, with the elasticity of childhood, from the shock caused by her mother's death, she soon became a pet with the wo canvas-covered ho recovered frouide and an indefatigable hunter So rapidly did he gain the esteem of his new cos, it was unanie and as fertile a tract of land as any of the settlers, with the exception of Young hierson, Kemball, Johnston, and Drebber, ere the four principal Elders
On the far-house, which received so rew into a roomy villa He was a s and skilful with his hands His iron constitution enabled hi his lands Hence it caed to hily In three years he was better off than his neighbours, in six he ell-to-do, in nine he was rich, and in twelve there were not half a dozen men in the whole of Salt Lake City who could coreat inland sea to the distant Wahsatch Mountains there was no name better known than that of John Ferrier
There was one way and only one in which he offended the susceptibilities of his co-religionists No argument or persuasion could ever induce him to set up a female establishave reasons for this persistent refusal, but contented hi to his determination There were soion, and others who put it down to greed of wealth and reluctance to incur expense Others, again, spoke of soirl who had pined away on the shores of the Atlantic Whatever the reason, Ferrier remained strictly celibate In every other respect he conforained the na -house, and assisted her adopted father in all his undertakings The keen air of the mountains and the balsamic odour of the pine trees took the place of nurse and rew taller and stronger, her cheek more rudy, and her step h road which ran by Ferrier's farhts revive in their h the wheatfields, orit with all the ease and grace of a true child of the West So the bud blossomed into a flower, and the year which saw her father the richest of the farirlhood as could be found in the whole Pacific slope
It was not the father, however, who first discovered that the child had developed into the woe is too subtle and too gradual to be measured by dates Least of all does the maiden herself know it until the tone of a voice or the touch of a hand sets her heart thrilling within her, and she learns, with a er nature has awoken within her There are feho cannot recall that day and remember the one little incident which heralded the dawn of a new life In the case of Lucy Ferrier the occasion was serious enough in itself, apart from its future influence on her destiny and that of , and the Latter Day Saints were as busy as the bees whose hive they have chosen for their emblem In the fields and in the streets rose the sah roads defiled long streaold fever had broken out in California, and the Overland Route lay through the City of the Elect There, too, were droves of sheep and bullocks co pasture lands, and trains of tired irants, men and horses equally weary of their intere, threading her ith the skill of an accoalloped Lucy Ferrier, her fair face flushed with the exercise and her long chestnut hair floating out behind her She had a co in as she had done many a ti only of her task and hoas to be perforazed after her in astonish in with their pelties, relaxed their accustomed stoicism as they marvelled at the beauty of the pale-faced maiden
She had reached the outskirts of the city when she found the road blocked by a great drove of cattle, driven by a half-dozen wild-looking herdsmen from the plains In her impatience she endeavoured to pass this obstacle by pushi+ng her horse into what appeared to be a gap Scarcely had she got fairly into it, however, before the beasts closed in behind her, and she found herself co-horned bullocks Accustomed as she was to deal with cattle, she was not alare of every opportunity to urge her horse on in the hopes of pushi+ng her way through the cavalcade Unfortunately the horns of one of the creatures, either by accident or design, ca, and excited it to s with a snort of rage, and pranced and tossed in a way that would have unseated any but a most skilful rider The situation was full of peril Every plunge of the excited horse brought it against the horns again, and goaded it to fresh irl could do to keep herself in the saddle, yet a slip would mean a terrible death under the hoofs of the unwieldy and terrified anian to swi cloud of dust and by the steaht have abandoned her efforts in despair, but for a kindly voice at her elbohich assured her of assistance At the sahtened horse by the curb, and forcing a way through the drove, soon brought her to the outskirts