of the place as a temporary residence, and
thither the party removed at nightfall.

The following morning smiled down upon East Utah in all its revived
loveliness--the veldt looked greener and fresher for its wholesale bath,
and a newcomer would certainly have had no idea of the awful tragedies
which had recently been enacted in this country, where all looked so
quiet and peaceful.

On this morning a band of Mormons, some fifty in number, arrived at the
great stairway, and appeared struck dumb by its destruction, for they
ran about gesticulating madly, and wringing their hands over the great
blocks of stone cast hither and thither about the adjacent veldt. It
was, however, evident, as Grenville had foreseen, that they did not
believe the enemy had left the country by the roadway. The river had
broken through too soon after the rockets had been fired to admit of any
possibility of their escape in that direction. The only doubt they
entertained was if the invaders had really been drowned and their
bodies, together with those of their own ill-fated comrades, carried
away by the River of Death.

The Mormons now examined the neighbourhood, with a keen scrutiny which
let nothing escape unquestioned; but, having foreseen this search,
Grenville had acted with the utmost caution, and no trace of their
movements had been left behind, so that he was not in the least
surprised when the Mormons--who were, he observed, led by Radford
Custance--turned their backs on the stairway early in the afternoon, and
set off across the veldt in the direction of their town.

On the day following, our friends went into council. Their position was
fast becoming a dangerous one; food was running out and none coming in,
and it was evident that unless steps were taken to replenish their
larder at an early date, starvation must overtake them in the very midst
of plenty, for on the eastern side of the mountains the streams were
small, and so far had not even produced fish, which would have helped to
eke out their stores.

After a long and earnest consultation it was decided to beard the lion
in his den--in other words, Grenville and Amaxosa were detailed to cross
the river, penetrate into the enemy's country, and there endeavour to
find in the rear of East Utah a strong position, which they, surrounded
by plenty, could defend until they fairly wore the Mormons out and
compelled them to make peace and let the party go.

It was a desperate vent