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Show Charles Fcncher presented the three ctemctfves. Boggs was the only one who voted thst they request to bo baptized. bap-tized. The rest of the votes were divided between humbly pleading for help end stecHng whet they needed. eyes is black." "Sure does," said another, who had also heard the fiery Mormon apostle preach in Arkansas. "Both look alike, both die the same year. Interesting coincidence," coinci-dence," said the first, referring to Pratt's murder the previous April. "Hector McLean shot him, and if a Mormon preacher ran off with my woman I'd do the same," said the second. "You men go hide the body," ordered Fancher. "Got to get these iwagons rolling." Seth and another man grabbed the Indian's feet and were dragging him toward the closest patch of sagebrush when they were approached by Boggs. When old Parley there gets to stinking the Injuns'll find him and be madder than ever," said Boggs. "Don't aim to bury him," said Seth. "Take too long, and besides, the Injuns would find the fresh dirt and dig him up." "Take old Parley to my wagon and slip him in the big barrel in the back," said Bqggs. "What?" asked an astonished Seth. "You got to be fooling." "Just do it," said Boggs. "Why?" "Got a big surprise for them folks in Cedar City," answered Boggs as he began shuffling towards to-wards his wagon. fomia." "They'll never buy it." said one man. "I don't know," said another. ' "Let's have a vote," said Seth Stevenson. Charles Fancher presented the three alternatives. Boggs was the only one who voted that they request re-quest to be baptized. The rest of the votes were divided between humbly pleading for help and stealing steal-ing what they needed. "Let's do 'em both," suggested Seth. "We try the humble pleadings plead-ings and if that don't work, we'll come back at night and take what . we need." There was a general murmur of agreement. As the men began returning to their wagons, the quiet of the afternoon after-noon was shattered by the report of a rifle. Then another shot, from the direction of the grazing livestock. An Indian tumbled out of a tall cedar tree. "We got him," shouted two young men standing beneath the tree, smoking rifles in their hands. "Make a circle," shouted Fancher, Fan-cher, anticipating a possible Indian ' attack. Men raced to their wagons. As whips cracked and men shouted, the wagons lurched forward, for-ward, filling the air with dust as the circle was formed. Women and children scampered behind crates and boxes. Men checked the priming prim-ing on their weapons and made sure powder and balls were on hand. Then silence. Fingers on triggers, trig-gers, eyes on the nearby hillsides. Listening, for any abnormal sound' the snapping of a twig, a loose rock rolling down a ledge, the stomping of an impatient hoof. Nothing. No-thing. Maybe the Indian was alone. A scout, perhaps. Cautiously, two men left the circle of wagons and approached the dead Indian. Each took hold of a foot and began dragging drag-ging him back to the safety of the wagons. He was a large Indian, and didn't drag easily across the rough ground. Once inside the circle, the men dropped the feet. Others gathered around to take a closer look. No one thought to ask the boys why they had shot the Indian. No weapon had fallen out of the tree with him. The Indian was broad and muscular, mus-cular, with a wide forehead, bushy eyebrows, and large, clear eyes. "Looks like a Mormon missionary mission-ary I once heard preach back home," said one of the Arkansas men. "Parley P. Pratt," said another. "Looks a lot like him, 'cept his A roar of disapproval and laughter laugh-ter erupted spontaneously from the .group of men. Nobody liked Boggs' idea. "Think about it," he said calmly. calm-ly. "If we was Mormons there wouldn't be any laws against selling sell-ing us supplies. We could buy everything ev-erything we wanted. If we was Mormons the Injuns would also have to back off, we being allies instead of enemies. Being Mormons Mor-mons would change everything. Worth a dip in the horse trough, if you ask me.'.' "I'd rather fight Injuns than have some damn Mormon praying over me while he dunked me in a ditch," said Seth Stevenson. "Not me," countered Boggs. "I want to see California without my hair being lifted." "Me too," said one of the other men. As absurd and impossible as Boggs' suggestion had seemed at first, some of the men were beginning begin-ning to give it more serious con- sideration. Every alternative had to be considered. The situation was desperate. "How would you get 'em to believe be-lieve we were sincere?" asked an older Arkansas man. "Yea," shouted another. "Mor-. mons is stupid, but not stupid enough to swallow a line like that, not after all the fights and differences differ-ences of the past few weeks. They'd laugh us out of town." "Oh, I don't know," said Boggs. "Suppose we tell 'em we went into the woods to pray to God for protection pro-tection from the Injuns, when suddenly sud-denly we see'd a light come down from the sky, brighter than the sun, but we looks at it anyway, and there's a man standing in the middle mid-dle of it, all dressed in white clothes and full of bullet holes..." "Angels don't have bullet holes," objected one of the listeners. lis-teners. "This one does," said Boggs. "Got 'em at Carthage Jail. His name is Joe Smith, come back from the dead to tell us somethin'." "What does he tell us?" asked one of the men. "That the Injuns'll kill us all and we'll burn in hell forever and ever if we don't repent and become baptized bap-tized Mormons. So we tell the fanatics fana-tics in Cedar City that's why we want to be baptized. Even promise to send old Brigham a double tithing ti-thing as soon as we get to Cali- I CHAPTER 17 I The Fancher Company halted a few miles outside Cedar City the ' last Mormon settlement of any sig- I nificant size, the last chance to purchase pur-chase critically needed supplies. -There were several Mormon communities com-munities beyond Cedar City, like I Pinto and Santa Clara, but there were no stores or trading posts of any size in these tiny outposts. If supplies were going to be obtained before the long trek -across the barren desert, they I would have to be obtained at Cedar City. The company needed grease for wagon axles; leather for worn- : out harnesses and shoes; iron shoes for horses and oxen; powder and lead for guns; coffee, sugar, I grain and dozens of other items. 1 . Getting more lead and powder was especially' important now that it -was known the company was being j followed by a growing band of hos- ; rtile Indians. I Since the stop was temporary, I ;the wagons didn't pull into a circle, ' lbut remained strung out along the ; -road, the horses and oxen standing ;:tjuietly in their harnesses and 'tiyokes. The women stayed near Jheir wagons, while the men 'gathered beside one of the middle vwagons to discuss how supplies :::might be obtained at Cedar City. 3Some of the older boys wre ( : rwatching the herd of grazing cattle j rand horses, the animals not hitched ; -jto wagons. . The discussion was heated, the :3nen divided into two general rfgroups. Most of the Arkansas men : favored the humble approach , a desperate de-sperate plea from weary travelers fwhose only goal was to get to California Cali-fornia and leave the Mormons Malone. They wanted to how the people in Cedar City how badly rjhey needed supplies by having the :women wear their most worn-out ::hoes and having the children beg ijbr food. Surely the hearts of the Mormons would be touched, causing caus-ing them to sell some desperately rneeded supplies. . ?:? The other group, those mostly irfrom Missouri, those who called j3hemselves the Wildcats, felt differently. diffe-rently. Give the stubborn Mor-jimons Mor-jimons one more chance to sell them lusupplies, they said. If they refused, ;fa band of men would return to -Cedar City under cover of dark-:rness dark-:rness and steal the critical supplies. Dick Boggs offered another ' jlalternative. The gathering was by his wagon, '6hd while the rest of the men were ;i:on the ground, Boggs was high on ilihe wagon seat. "I know how we ?Tcan git all the supplies we wants, rtlean out the Injuns, and never fire "a shot," he said. As the men looked up to hear what he had to say, :Boggs spat out a brown wad of itobacco and cleared his throat, s "When we get to town, let's tell them we want to be baptized Mor-jnons." |