San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1884-04-03

la now Jerusalem that they were
Indeed the children of the lost tribes
tho children OF Dan indeed, that
should Judge the people of the earth
as they passed, and bo as "a serpent
by tho way" "an adder in tho path.
To the east Of this remnant Of q
dried-up sea, and close upon tho salt
white shore Of it, there gushed from
the rocky hillside little river OF boil
ing water which sent forth its steam
in the early morning in o perpetual
drift of snowy clouds These beaut-
| full whito clouds rose to the mountain
top to the east, and there rested lazily
| in the sun or Graded to and fro above
tho Mormon city.
Beneath these Graded clouds, far
below them, and yet far above the
city, and to the east and to the north,
and above our own camp, there was
drawn in q precise level tho definite
and unmistakable shore and surf-line
of o great dried-up sea. Hundreds
of feet above the black and heavy
waters of Salt Lake, you can see
where the surf roared in storm and
tempest when the world was young,
tore the rocks to splinters, fashioned
caverns, and washed a pebbled strand.
These marks will remain while the
mountains remain. All around, high
up on the hilltop, you pick up sea-
washed pebbles, petrifed sea-fsh OF
forgotten age, stones with sea-moss
and sea.shells encased in them, and
endless evidence that the ships OF
Solomon might have sailed these
mountain tops, seeking tho land OF
Ophir.
And yet here was pitiful man, in
the heart of oil this mystery, in the
presence of ever-patient and industri.
GUS Nature as she tried to fashion o
home for him glorious and beautiful,
cutting his fellow mans throat before
he had yet fairly sat down to the
possession of it all. Was there not
sorrow enough herei
Why, these Mormons had been
riding, racing, dashing about for
days and days to find n single victim
to murder. And now they had found
their victim. She must die. She
was already in some sense dead.
Some one had seen the hand of the
giant shoot high and straight
and perpendicular in the air as the
Danites rode down from the hill.
They answered with the Same emphat-
tic and silent sign. What did it
mean7 As they approached the
camp, he also approached. He came
with heavy, massive, and deliberate
tread, as if he owned the earth. He
took possession Of the place. They
entered tho camp together. The
men looked at the giant for their
orders. He motioned them to dis
mount. They did 80, and stood a
little apart, holding their hungry and
tired horses by long rawhide tethers
as they bent their sleek necks to the
ground, ratified their steel bits in
their teeth, and ate of the green and
abundant grass as if it never had
been or should be stained with blood.
I know youare clutching your hand
here with ferocity toward the one
party, and shame and pity for the
other. You would have fought, died
then and there, or destroyed these
destroying angels, would you?
Not 30. Drawer men never were
known than the pioneers of these
days. But there somehow fell fas-
cination on all and always, from these
swift and silent fanatics-the fascina-
ton of the serpent when it looks in q
birds eyes-that paralyzed the worn
and weary pilgrims in these early
days. And you search the chronicles
in vain for one single act of success
full defence. Not one of thousand
murders ever met with any real resist
ance.
Some believed that this new relig-
ion would cover the earth, Men who
abhorred it had seen its audacity and
power so suddenly and wonderfully
developed here in these mountains of
Mexico, that no wonder they were
appalled, and silent before its oxecu-
toners. 1t had its believers, too, in
every camp. No one dared complain
70 bis neighbor, not even to his own
brother, or build up plans Of escape,
punishment OF revenge. A man did
not trust his own wife. There was
but one course to take-bear all in
silence
Our party had already unyoked