ssage upon his spirit; wherever they found a few Mormon households
gathered together, he preached to them the high ideals of Christian
living and the need of humility and constant prayer. Another theme he
had which he considered of equal importance; this was the interpretation
of prophecy. He gave long rapt discourses upon the most obscure passages
in the books of the prophets, the Revelation of St. John, and the Book
of Mormon. These passages were found chiefly to refer to the rise of
the Mormon Church, the iniquity of her enemies, and her glorious future.
Susannah, who saw the value of his practical teachings, bitterly
regretted this use of half his opportunities.

Only once or twice in many weeks did they come upon a Mormon household
whose management was not such as the moralist would approve, and in
those cases before Halsey's passionate denunciation sins were confessed
and repentance promised.

So they journeyed slowly out of the September heats and oppressive
shades into the cooler and more open glories of autumn. In that part of
the country wild flowers run riot at the approach of winter, painting
the land in broad leagues of colour, white and gold and blue, and the
trees of the forest hang in red curtains overhead. The air was so light
and invigorating that they all felt its tonic properties. Halsey seemed
eased of his burden; the child began to talk, babbling wise and
wonderful speeches. Elvira was even more frivolous than was her wont,
and Susannah almost forgot Halsey's dismal prophecy of martyrdom.

About the middle of October they reached the place called Haun's Mill,
where a small Mormon community was settled. Here they thought well to
pause, shocked by renewed rumours of warfare. A truce for the whole
region, which had been signed by Smith and some of his elders on the one
side, and by a magistrate, by name Adam Black, for the Gentiles, had
been broken by Gentile mobs in several of the counties near Far West. A
number of the saints had been brutally killed, their wives and children
driven from their homes at the point of the bayonet. This renewed
outrage roused at last the fires of revenge, long smouldering in the
breasts of the refugees from the desolate city of Zion, who had
themselves known the bitterness of such unmerited wrong. These fires
fused religious principle and natural wrath together, till a chain was
forged which bound many strong men in a secret society, whose members
swore to fight, not