Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 376 — page 9: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- 9 ED pene ° Gy “3 eee - —. . > eo ss RS SS ST OARS ET SS TT thee that we do not mean to hurt thee. What will satisfy thee on that point. Young man, if I wished to hurt thee, I could have done it atany time during the journey. Give up thine arms, or it will be the worse for thee,” Joe was staggered by the way the other spoke, for the air of the deacon had all the dignity of one used to authority, and his presence was that of a king. The deacon saw the change in his face, and added, in a kindly tone: ‘*Thou hast stood the test well, and showed thou hast all the courage I expected in thee. Now show thou canst obey, and it will be well for thee.” Joe hesitated a wer soot and then called out: ‘* Will you tell those fellers to go back aout of gunshot and come to me alone, deacon? ll “soa in to you, when I wouldn’t to a dozen ora undred.” The deacon nodded and waved his hand, when the whole party of men with him turned their horses and rode away, without exhibiting the slightest impatience or reluctance to obey any order. When they had gone some dis- tance, Joe waved his hand, threw his rifle toone side, and called to the deacon: ‘‘ Now, then, deacon, come on; and ef it’s peace, it’s peace; ef not, war be it.” The Mormon chief immediately rode up to him, leaped from his horse, and held out his hana to Joe, saying, as if much pleased: ‘Young man, thou hast stood the test well; thou art worthy to join the Angels of the Lord, and ride in the band of the Destroyer.” Joe took the hand, but without any cordiali- ty, as he answered: ** That's all very well, deacon; but why didn’t zoe tellme you wasin the Mormonchurch? Am sich a darnation fool that ye c’u’dn’t trust me, when ye let them lummixes of Scotts inter the secrets. Ye hain’t treated me squar’, sir, and ye know it as well as I do.” The deacon flashed a swift glance over him, and his eye gleamed with a singular expression. He seemed to be taking Joe’s individuality in, and counting over just what he was worth. Then, with a smile, he said: ‘*' Young man, I had a purpose in that, which thou shalt know now. Did I not say to thee that I would meet thee here, and tell thee of the mysteries that thou couldst not understand?” ‘¢ Ay, ye dia,” replied Joe slowly. The deacon interrupted him eagerly. ‘‘ And the time has come. Why did I not tell thee what I told the Scotts? Because thou art different from them. In thee I see the mind and courage that makes the chiefs of our church, while they are but the herd that we drive to and fro, like cattle. I have told them nothing but what we tell the ignorant in every land; but to thee, if thou art worthy, will be committed the secrets of the church, which they will never know. Young man, thou knowest, now, who I am; but not all. Thou knowest I am a Mormon, but thatis not all. [ am chief of the band of the Destroying Angels, and if thou hadst flinched, for so much as the space of a flash of lightning, these my men would have slain thee, as if thou hadst been a wolf. Bus thou art one of the men that we need; for we are against the world, and the world is against us. Say the words. Wilt thou join the forces of the Lord, or wilt thou die? for thut is the chcice I offer thee. Thou art too bold and wise to be lost in the herd of the great congregation, and to let thee go is not safe forany of us. Thy decision?” ; He had begun in a pleading way, as if to wheedle the young ran into compliance, but he ended by suddenly pointing a pistol at Joe, and putting the question in bis sternest tone, And, for the first time in his life, Joe found himself looking down the muzzle of a pistol, while his Own rifles was resting with the butt on the ~— not in condition to be used before the deacon could shoot him. The young man curled his lip, and simply said. ‘¢Shoot, and be darned to ye, then.” For a moment it seemed as if the deacon was about to take bim at bis word: for his face darkened. Then he suddenly put up the pistol, and said to J0e: “Jt is the last test, and thou hast stood it. Give thy decision now, without fear. Wilt thou join the Saints of the Lord, or not?” The moment the other assumed that tone, the heart of Joe melted within him, and he said, in his frankest wonire simian ek ‘+ Deacon, » and I’d made up m mind to do what ye wanted me; but’ arn't the man to be skeered into ig,’ p>) jine yer church ef y® want me, and ef ye want me to California Joe’s First Trail. a te oe 9 ride with ye, I'll be’ proud to doit, and l’arn the ways of the plains.” The deacon nodded as if he were highly pleased, and took the hand of the young man in his Own, ‘Young man,” he said, “thou hast decided wisely, and great shall be thy reward. Thou shalt yet be a prince among men, and thy children shall call thee blessed. The die is cast. I welcome thee to the church of the Latter Day Saints.” So saying, he turned and made a signal to the Mormons, who had halted at a little distance, and they immediately set up a yell and came tearing down at full speed, firing their pistols over the heads of the deacon and Joe, so that the bullets flew in alarming proximity to the air. ‘*Fear not,” said the Mormon chief calmly, as Joe frowned slightly, suspecting treachery. ‘* Tis but another test. Thou shalt not be hurt, if thou showest no fear.” He left Joe as he spoke, and the Destroying Angels swept down on tie young hunter like a horde of hungry wolves, with a ferocity that would have shaken the nerve of most men. As soon asthe deacon had got out of the line of their fire, they dashed down on Joe, and fired shot after shot at him, so close that hig hat was knocked off, and he expected every moment to feel the sting of the next bullet on his body. There were at least a hundred of them, and they seemed to be all good shots, from the way they fired at him, circling just as the Indians had done before them. Then the coil of a lasso was thrown over his head, and™he was jerked off his feet, the noose wrapped round him, pinioning hls arms close to his sides; in which condition two men caught him, as he lay, half stunned by the shock, and, before he had an idea of what was going to be done, had clapped a pair of handcuffs on bis wrists, and cast a rope round bis ankles, till he was as helpless as a trussed turkey, Then they swuug him up on a horse, before one of the number, and he was; carried off full speed, not knowing where he was going. Before the horses had gone a dozen steps, the voice of the deacon was heard crying: CHAPTER XI, THE INITIATION, ‘Put. out the eyes of the accursed one,” cried the voice of the Mormon chief; and, with the word, several strong hands clutched the helpless Joe, and he was suspended between two horses, when a lance-pole or something of the sort was thrust between his elbows and body, and he was left hanging there, in a way that hurt bim con- siderably, and left him more helpless than be- fore. Then some one rode up bebind him, pars- ing between the horses of his bearers, and clap- ped a loose woolen cap over his head, which came down over his eyes and completely blind- ed him, wken he was borne forward at a more furious pace than before, convinced, this time, that the deacon had deceived him, and that he was going to be tortured to death. The pace of the Destroying Angels now be- came furious, and the wayin which Joe was slung in the air between two borses was so pain- ful that he had much ado not to shriek with the torture; but he set his teeth hard, with all the resolution of a Kentuckian, and stifled every cry, tillthe agony overcame his senses and he pene away, only dimly conscious of the fact fully he was being jostled to and fro unmerci- At last came a halt, and he woke up to find himself lying on the ground on his Pah the pole on his back, where he lay, helpless, while a confused sound of voices round him showed that the men were holdi sultation above him. ng some sort of a con- Vis, the voice of Deacon Simplicity Fox ‘* Open his eyes, that lhe may see.” With that, some one edna ts the poor fellow where he lay, and withdrew the pole from be- hind his elbows, when he was rolled over on his back, and the cap was poved off his face, For a moment, the change, from darkness to comparative light, blinded Joe, but the sun bad set, and the twilight only lingered on the tops of the mountains round him, so that he was soon able to see clearly around, LL LT LT He found bimself in a narrow ravine, while | the Mormons were lighting fires round bim. They had dismounted from their horses, and were engaged at the various occupations of making camp, while the deacon and a group of three or four nen, who wore red plumes in their hats, were directing the operations, Joe felt stiff and sore after his ride, and bis strength seemed to be taken from him for the time, while the Mormons took not the smallest notice of bim, as he lay. Among the rest he did not fail to see the In- dians who had first assaulted him in a camp apart from the rest, with their borses picketed in a green spot, while the warriors were seated on the grass, eating dried corn, which they took from their little sacks, carried on a march, In spite of his cramped and painful position, Joe could vot help feeling a great interest in what he saw, for it was his first opportunity of seeing with his own eyes the scenes of which he had dreamed when he first came on the lains, : He bad had a great ambition to be a scout and warrior, and to find out the ways of the In- dians, and here they were, right before his eyes, in a place where he had an opportunity to see what they did, without their suspecting bis ob- ject. He had a good opportunity to look round him, and saw that the camp of the * Angels” and their Indian allies was secured from assault by a line of sentries, whom he could see dimly outlined in the twilight. The guards were pa- cing toand fro at the other end of the ravine in which the camp was laid out, and the rest of the men worked as if they felt perfectly se- cure, He watched the Destroying Angels closely, for there was no one to hinder bim. He saw that they seemed to be picked men for hight and size, averaging six feet, and all of them powerfully built. They were armed to the teeth, every man having a pair of revolvers in bis belt, and a rifle of a kind that Joe had never seen before. It was the then recently-introduced breech- loader of the Sharpe’s variety, and the young man had heard of its marvelous ¢fficacy, but had never seen a specimen, Its superiority to his own weapon was illus- trated to him by chance, as one of the men near him opened the breech of the rifle and drew the charge, which be put into the pouch at bis belt in a way that Joe had never seen before, while he took out the breech apparatus and oiled it carefully, when be reloaded the weapon in two seconds, aud remarked to one of his friends in Jos’s hearing: ‘‘Reckin the Canaanites won’t hey much chance at us arter this, brother Uzziel.” He spoke to a tall man, with long red hair, that flowed down over his shoulders like the mane of a lion, on either side of a bearded face of severe plate p Brother Uzziel replied with a frown: ‘‘The Canaanites are not the foes of whom the host of the Lord is afraid. ‘Tis the Gentiles that are coming nearer all the time, that we have to sweep with the besom of the Lord. Verily the time is nigh at band.” Joe did not yet understand the figurative language adopted by the Mormons; but he saw that his captors were uneasy, and that his own person was a matter of small importance to them, compared with something else that was going on near them. What that could be he knew not, but he trusted to the operation of tims to tell bim, and tried to make the best of bis uncomfortable position by staring round him and listening. After an hour or more passed in this way, the camp of the Mormons quieted down, and the men were gathered round their fires, eating their suppers, which seemed to be as frugel as those of the Indians, though the chiefs—as Joe took the men with the red plumes in their bats to be—ate venison steaks, which were broiled on the coals for them by the men, and brought to them with every demonstration of respect. In fact, the discipline of the band of “ An- gels” seemed to be of the most slavish kind; for the rough warriors, bristling with arms, served their chiefs on bended knees, with bared heads, and obeyed the slightest gesture with an eager- ness that would have been ludicrous, had it not been so evidently inspired by awe. At last the supper was over, and no one had come near Joe, when the deacon turned his head, as he sat within hearing of the young prisoner, aud said an an ‘Bring the Gentile before us, that he may be questioned.” Two stalwart Mormons immediately strode toward Joe and lifted him to his feet, when one of them stooped and cut the cord that bound his ankles and said roughly: . ‘‘ Arise and walk, young man. The chief re- quires thee to answer for what thou bast cone,” Then he was helped forward to the fire, around which the chiefs were seuted, and left OM “bOOKS.comM