The Lions of the Lord Part 8

"Not that I approve of it, boy, but it'll hearten you,--some of the best peach brandy I ever sniffed. I got it at the still-house last week for use in time of trouble,--and this here time is _it_."

He drank the fiery stuff from the gourd in which it was given him, and choked until they brought him water. But presently the warmth stole along his cold, dead nerves so that he became intensely alive from head to foot, and strangely exalted. And when they offered him food he ate eagerly and talked. It seemed to him there had been a thousand matters that he had long wished to speak of; matters of moment in which he felt deeply; yet on which he had strangely neglected to touch till now.

He talked long with the Bishop when the women had climbed into their wagon for the night. He amazed that good man by asking him if the Lord would not be pleased to have them, now, as they were, go back to Nauvoo and descend upon the Gentiles to smite them. The Bishop counselled him to have patience.

"What could we do how with these few old fusees and cheap arms that we managed to smuggle across--to say nothing of half of us being down sick?"

"But we are Israel, and surely Israel's G.o.d--"

"The Lord had His chance the other day if He'd wanted it, when they took the town. No, Joel, He means us to gether out and become strong enough to beat 'em in our own might. But you _wait_; our day will come, and all the more credit to us then for doin' it ourselves. Then we'll consecrate the herds and flocks of the Gentile and his store and basket, his gold and silver, and his myrrh and frankincense. But for the present--well, we got to be politic and kind of modest about such doin's. The big Fan, the Sons of Dan, done good work in Missouri and better in Nauvoo, and it'll do still better where we're goin'. But we must be patient. Only next time we'll get to work quicker. If the Gentiles had been seen to quicker in Nauvoo, Joseph would be with us now. We learned our lesson there. Now the Lord has unfurled a Standard of Zion for the gathering of Israel, and this time we'll fix the Gentiles early."

"Amen! Brother Seth."

A look of deep hatred had clouded the older man's face as he spoke. He continued.

"Let the wrath of G.o.d abide upon 'em, and remember that we're bein'

tried and proved for a purpose. And we got to be more practical. You been too theoretical yourself and too high-flyin' in your notions. The Kingdom ain't to be set up on earth by faith alone. The Lord has got to have _works_, like I told you about the other day."

"You were right, Bishop, I need to be more practical. The olive-branch and not the sword would Ephraim extend to j.a.pheth, but if--"

"If j.a.pheth don't toe the mark the Lord's will must be worked upon him."

"So be it, Brother Seth! I am ready now to be a Son of Dan."

The Bishop rose from in front of their fire and looked about. No one was near. Here and there a fire blazed, and the embers of many more could be seen dying out in the distance. The nearest camp was that of the fever-stricken man who had fled on to the boat that morning with his child in his arms. They could see his shaven head in the firelight, and a woman hovering over him as he lay on the ground with a tattered quilt fixed over him in lieu of a tent. From another group came the strains of an accordion and the chorus of a hymn.

"That's right," said the Bishop. "I knew you'd come to it. I saw that long ago. Brother Brigham saw it, too. We knew you could be relied on.

You want the oath, do you?"

"Yes, yes, Brother Seth. I was ready for it this morning when they told me about father."

"Hold up your right hand and repeat after me:

"'In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, I do covenant and agree to support the first Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in all things right or wrong; I will faithfully guard them and report to them the acts of all men as far as in my power lies; I will a.s.sist in executing all the decrees of the first President, Patriarch, or President of the Twelve, and I will cause all who speak evil of the Presidency or Heads of the Church to die the death of dissenters or apostates, unless they speedily confess and repent, for pestilence, persecution, and death shall follow the enemies of Zion. I will be a swift herald of salvation and messenger of peace to the Saints, and I will never make known the secret purposes of this Society called the Sons of Dan, my life being the forfeiture in a fire of burning tar and brimstone. So help me G.o.d and keep me steadfast.'"

He repeated the words without hesitation, with fervour in his voice, and the light of a holy and implacable zeal in his face.

"Now I'll give you the blessing, too. Wait till I get my bottle of oil."

He stepped to the nearest wagon, felt under the cover, and came back with a small bottle in his hand.

"Stand jest here--so--now!"

They stood at the edge of the wavering firelight, and he put his hand on the other's head.

"'In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, and by the authority of the Holy Priesthood, the first President, Patriarch, and High Priest of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, representing the first, second, and third G.o.ds in Heaven, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I do now anoint you with holy consecrated oil, and by the imposition of my hands do ordain and set you apart for the holy calling whereunto you are called; that you may consecrate the riches of the Gentiles to the House of Israel, bring swift destruction upon apostate sinners, and execute the decrees of Heaven without fear of what man can do with you. So mote it be. Amen.'

"There, boy, if I ain't mistaken, that's the best work for Zion that I done for some time. Now be off to your rest!"

"Good night, Bishop, and thank you for being kind to me! The Church Poet called me the Lute of the Holy Ghost, but I feel to-night, that I must be another Lion of the Lord. Good night!"

He went out of the firelight and stumbled through the dark to his own wagons. But when he came to them he could not stop. Under all the exhilaration he had been conscious of the great pain within him, drugged for the moment, but never wholly stifled. Now the stimulus of the drink had gone, and the pain had awakened to be his master.

He went past the wagons and out on to the prairie that stretched away, a sea of silvery gray in the moonlight. As he walked, the whole stupendous load of sorrow settled upon him. His breath caught and his eyes burned with the tears that lay behind them. He walked faster to flee from it, but it came upon him more heavily until it made a breaking load,--the loss of his sister by worse than death, his father and mother driven out at night and their home burned, his father killed by a mob whose aim had lacked even the dignity of the murderer's--for they had seemingly intended but a brutal piece of horse-play; his mother dead from exposure due to Gentile persecutions; the girl he had loved taken from him by Gentile persuasions. If only she had been left him so that now he could put his head down upon her shoulder, slight as that shoulder was, and feel the supreme soothing of a woman's touch; if only the hurts had not all come at once! The pain sickened him. He was far out on the prairie now, away from the sleeping encampment, and he threw himself down to give way to his grief. Almost silently he wept, yet with sobs that choked him and cramped him from head to foot. He called to his mother and to his father and to the sister who had gone before them, crying their names over and over in the night. But under all his sorrow he felt as great a rage against the Gentile nation that had driven them into the wilderness.

When the spasm of grief had pa.s.sed, he still lay there a long time. Then becoming chilled he walked again over the prairie, watching the moon go down and darkness come to make the stars brighter, and then the day show gray in the east. And as he walked against his sorrow, the burden of his thought came to be: "G.o.d has tried me more than most men; therefore he expects more of me; and my reward shall be greater. New visions shall be given to me, and a new power, and this poor, hunted, plundered remnant of Israel shall find me their staff. Much has been taken from me, but much will be given unto me."

And under this ran a minor strain born of the rage that still burned within him:

"But, oh, the day of wrath that shall dawn on yonder Gentiles!"

So did he chasten himself through the night; and when the morning came he took his place in the train, strangely exalted by this new sense of the singular favour that was to be conferred upon him.

For seven weeks the little caravan crept over the prairies of Iowa, and day after day his conviction strengthened that he had been chosen for large works. In this fervour he cheered the sick and the weak of the party by picturing for them a great day to come when the Lord should exalt the valleys of humility and abase the mountains of Gentile pride; when the Saints should have their reward, and retribution should descend upon the wicked nation they were leaving behind. Scourges, afflictions, and depredations by fire, famine, and the tyrant's hand he besought them to regard as marks of Heaven's especial favour.

The company came to look upon him as its cloud by day and its pillar of fire by night. Old women--mothers in Israel--lavished attentions upon him as a motherless boy; young women smiled at him with soft pity, and were meek and hushed when he spoke. And the men believed that the things he told them concerning their great day to come were true revelations from G.o.d. They did not hesitate to agree with the good Bishop Wright, who declared in words of pointed admiration, "When that young man gets all het up with the Holy Ghost, the Angel of the Lord jest _has_ to give down!"

CHAPTER VII.

_Some Inner Mysteries Are Expounded_

The hosts of Israel had been forced to tarry for the winter on the banks of the Missouri. A few were on the east side at Council Bluffs on the land of the Pottawattamie Indians. Across the river on the land of the Omahas the greater part of the force had settled at what was known as Winter Quarters. Here in huts of logs, turf, and other primitive materials, their town had been laid out with streets and byways, a large council-house, a mill, a stockade, and blockhouses. The Indians had received them with great friendliness, feeling with them a common cause of grievance, since the heavy hand of the Gentile had pushed them also to this bleak frontier.

To this settlement early in November came the last train from Nauvoo, its members wearied and wasted by the long march, but staunch in their faith and with hope undimmed. It was told in after years how there had leaped from the van of this train a very earnest young man, who had at once sought an audience with Brigham Young and certain other members of the Twelve who had chanced to be present at the train's arrival; and how, being closeted with these, he had eagerly inquired if it might not be the will of the Lord that they should go no farther into the wilderness, but stand their ground and give battle to the Gentiles forthwith. He made the proposal as one who had a flawless faith that the G.o.d of Battles would be with them, and he appeared to believe that something might be done that very day to force the matter to an issue.

When he had made his proposal, he waited in a modest att.i.tude to hear their views of it. To his chagrin, all but two of those who had listened laughed. One of these two, Bishop Snow,--a man of holy aspect whom the Church Poet had felicitously ent.i.tled the Entablature of Truth,--had looked at him searchingly, then put his hand upon his own head and shaken it hopelessly to the others.

The other who had not laughed was Brigham himself. For to this great man had been given the gift to look upon men and to know in one slow sweep of his wonderful eyes all their strength and all their weakness. He had listened with close attention to the remarkable plan suggested by this fiery young zealot, and he studied him now with a gaze that was kind. A noticeable result of this att.i.tude of Brigham's was that those who had laughed became more or less awkwardly silent, while the Entablature of Truth, in the midst of his pantomime, froze into amazement.

"We'd better consider that a little," said Brigham, finally. "You can talk it over with me tonight. But first you go get your stuff unloaded and get kind of settled. There's a cabin just beyond my two up the street here that you can move into." He put his large hand kindly on the other's shoulder. "Now run and get fixed and come to my house for supper along about dark."

Somewhat cooled by the laughter of the others, but flattered by this consideration from the Prophet, the young man had gone thoughtfully out to his wagons and driven on to the cabin indicated.

"I _did_ think he was plumb crazy," said Bishop Snow, doubtfully, as if the reasons for changing his mind were even yet less than compelling.

"He _ain't_ crazy," said Brigham. "All that's the matter with him, he's got more faith than the whole pack of us put together. You just remember he ain't like us. We was all converted after we got our second teeth, while he's had it from the cradle up. He's the first one we've caught young. He's what the priesthood can turn out when they get a full swing with the rising generation. We got to remember that. We old birds had to learn to crow in middle life. These young ones will crow stronger; they'll out-crow us. But all the better for that. They'll be mighty brash at first, but all they need is to be held in a little, and then they'll be a power in the Kingdom."

"Well, of course you're right, Brother Brigham, but that boy certainly needs a check-rein and a curb-bit right now," said Snow.

"He'll have his needings," answered Brigham, shortly, and the informal council dispersed.

Brigham talked to him late that night, advancing many cogent reasons why it should be unwise to make war at once upon the nation of Gentiles to the east. Of these reasons the one that had greatest weight with his listener was the a.s.surance that such a course would not at present be pleasing in the sight of G.o.d. To others, touching upon the matter of superior forces they might have to contend with, he was loftily inattentive.

Having made this much clear, Brigham went on in his fatherly way to impress him anew with the sinfulness of all temporal governments outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Again he learned from the lips of authority that any people presuming to govern themselves by laws of their own making and officers of their own appointing, are in wicked rebellion against the Kingdom of G.o.d; that for seventeen hundred years the nations of the Western Hemisphere have been dest.i.tute of this Kingdom and dest.i.tute of all legal government; and that the Lord was now about to rend all earthly governments, to cast down thrones, overthrow nations, and make a way for the establishment of the everlasting Kingdom, to which all others would have to yield, or be prostrated never more to rise. Thus was the rebuff of the afternoon gracefully atoned for.

From matters of civil government the talk ranged to affairs domestic.