CHAPTER XXXVI.
_The Mission to a Deserving Gentile_
Not daunted by her father's strange lack of enthusiasm, Prudence arosewith the thought of her self-imposed mission strong upon her. Nor wasshe in any degree cooled from it by a sight of the lost sheep stridingup from the creek, the first level sunrays touching his tousled yellowhair, his face glowing, breathing his full of the wine-like air, andjoyously showing in every move his faultless attunement with all outsidehimself. The frank simplicity of his greeting, his carelessunenlightenment of his own wretched spiritual state, thrilled her likean electric shock with a strange new pity for him. She prayed on thespot for power to send him into the waters of baptism. When the day hadbegun, she lost no time in opening up the truth to him.
If the young man was at all amazed by the utter wholeness of herconviction that she was stooping from an immense height to pluck himfrom the burning, he succeeded in hiding it. He assumed with her at oncethat she was saved, that he was in the way of being lost, and that hisbehooving was to listen to her meekly. Her very evident alarm for hislost condition, her earnest desire to save him, were what he felt movedto dwell upon, rather than a certain spiritual condescension which hecould not wholly ignore.
After some general counsel, in the morning, she took out her old,dog-eared "Book of Mormon," a first edition, printed at Palmyra, NewYork, in 1830, "By Joseph Smith, Jr., Author and Proprietor," and ledthe not unworthy Gentile again to the canon. There in her favourite nookof pines beside the stream, she would share with him as much of theLord's truth as his darkened mind could be made conscious of.
When at last she was seated on the brown carpet under the pines, herback to a mighty boulder, the sacred record in her lap, and the Gentileprone at her feet, she found it no easy task to begin. First he must bebrought to repent of his sins. She began to wonder what his sins couldbe, and from that drifted into an idle survey of his profile, the lineof his throat as his head lay back on the ground, and the strong brownhand, veined and corded, that curled in repose on his breast. Shechecked herself in this; for it could be profitable neither to her soulnor to his.
"I'll teach you about the Book of Mormon first," she ventured.
"I'd like to hear it," said Follett, cheerfully.
"Of course you don't know anything about it."
"It isn't my fault, though. I've been unfortunate in my bringing up,that's all." He turned on his side and leaned upon his elbow so he couldlook at her.
"You see, I've been brought up to believe that Mormons were about as badas Mexicans. And Mexicans are so mean that even coyotes won't touchthem. Down at the big bend on the Santa Fe Trail they shot a Mexican,old Jesus Bavispee, for running off cattle. He was pretty well dried outto begin with, but the coyotes wouldn't have a thing to do with him, andso he just dried up into a mummy. They propped him up by the ford there,and when the cowboys went by they would roll a cigarette and light itand fix it in his mouth. Then they'd pat him on the head and tell himwhat a good old boy he was--_star bueno_--the only good Mexican aboveground--and his face would be grinning all the time, as if it tickledhim. When they find a Mexican rustling cattle they always leave himthere, and they used to tell me that the Mormons were just as bad andought to be fixed that way too."
"I think that was horrible!"
"Of course it was. They were bigoted. But I'm not. I know right wellthere must be good Mexicans alive, though I never saw one, and I supposeof course there must be--"
"Oh, you're worse than I thought!" she cried. "Come now, do try. I wantyou to be made better, for my sake." She looked at him with realpleading in her eyes. He dropped back to the ground with a thrill ofsearching religious fervour.
"Go on," he said, feelingly. "I'm ready for anything. I have kind of agood feeling running through me already. I do believe you'll be apowerful lot of benefit to me."
"You must have faith," she answered, intent on the book. "Now I'll tellyou some things first."
Had the Gentile been attentive he might have learned that the Book ofMormon is an inspired record of equal authority with the JewishScriptures, containing the revelations of Jehovah to his Israel of thewestern world as the Bible his revelations to Israel in the Orient,--theveritable "stick of Joseph," that was to be one with "the stick ofJudah;" that the angel Moroni, a messenger from the presence of God,appeared to Joseph Smith, clad in robes of light, and told him wherewere hid the plates of gold on which were graven this fulness of theeverlasting gospel; how that Joseph, after a few years of preparation,was let to take these sacred plates from the hill of Cumorah; also aninstrument called the Urim and Thummim, consisting of two stones set ina silver bow and made fast to a breast-plate, this having been preparedby the hands of God for use in translating the record on the plates; howJoseph, seated behind a curtain and looking through the Urim and Thummimat the characters on the plates, had seen their English equivalents overthem, and dictated these to his amanuensis on the other side of thecurtain.
He might have learned that when the book was thus translated, the angelMoroni had reclaimed the golden plates and the Urim and Thummim,leaving the sacred deposit of doctrine to be given to the world byJoseph Smith; that the Saviour had subsequently appeared to Joseph; alsoPeter, James, and John, who laid hands upon him, ordained him, gave himthe Holy Ghost, authorised him to baptise for the remission of sins, andto organise the Kingdom of God on earth.
"Do you understand so far?" she asked.
"It's fine!" he answered, fervently. "I feel kind of a glow coming overme already."
She looked at him closely, with a quick suspicion, but found his profileuninforming; at least of anything needful at the moment.
"Remember you must have faith," she admonished him, "if you are to winyour inheritance; and not question or doubt or find fault, or--or makefun of anything. It says right here on the title-page, 'And now if therebe faults, it be the mistake of men; wherefore condemn not the things ofGod that ye may be found spotless at the judgment seat of Christ.' Therenow, remember!"
"Who's finding fault or making fun?" he asked, in tones that seemed tobe pained.
"Now I think I'd better read you some verses. I don't know just where tobegin."
"Something about that Urim and Thingamajig," he suggested.
"Urim and Thummim," she corrected--"now listen."
Again, had the Gentile remained attentive, he might have learned howthe Western Hemisphere was first peopled by the family of one Jared,who, after the confusion of tongues at Babel, set out for the new land;how they grew and multiplied, but waxed sinful, and finally exterminatedone another in fierce battles, in one of which two million men wereslain.
At this the fallen one sat up.
"'And it came to pass that when they had all fallen by the sword, saveit were Coriantumr and Shiz, behold Shiz had fainted with loss of blood.And it came to pass when Coriantumr had leaned upon his sword and resteda little, he smote off the head of Shiz. And it came to pass, after hehad smote off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raised up on his hands andfell; and after he had struggled for breath he died.'"
The Gentile was animated now.
"Say, that Shiz was all right,--raised up on his hands and struggled forbreath after his head was cut off!"
Hereupon she perceived that his interest was become purely carnal. Soshe refused to read of any more battles, though he urged her warmly todo it. She returned to the expedition of Jared, while the lost sheepfell resignedly on his back again.
"'And the Lord said, Go to work and build after the manner of bargeswhich ye have hitherto built. And it came to pass that the brother ofJared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after themanner which they had built, after the instructions of the Lord. Andthey were small, and they were light upon the water, like unto thelightness of a fowl upon the water; and they were built like unto amanner that they were exceeding tight, even that they would hold waterlike unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish, andthe ends thereof were peaked; and the t
op thereof was tight like unto adish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the doorthereof when it was shut was tight like unto a dish. And it came to passthat the brother of Jared cried unto the Lord, saying--'"
She forgot him a little time, in the reading, until it occurred to herthat he was singularly quiet. She glanced up, and was horrified to seethat he slept. The trials of Jared's brother in building the boats thatwere about the length of a tree, combined with his broken rest of thenight before, had lured him into the dark valley of slumber where hissoul could not lave in the waters of truth. But something in thesleeping face softened her, and she smiled, waiting for him to awaken.He was still only a waymark to the kingdom of folly, but she had made abeginning, and she would persevere. He must be saved into the householdof faith. And indeed it was shameful that such as he should depend fortheir salvation upon a chance meeting with an unskilled girl likeherself. She wondered somewhat indignantly how any able-bodied Saintcould rest in the valley while this man's like were dying in sin forwant of the word. As her eye swept the sleeping figure, she was evenconscious of a little wicked resentment against the great plan itself,which could under any circumstances decree such as he to perdition.
He opened his eyes after awhile to ask her why she had stopped reading,and when she told him, he declared brazenly that he had merely closedhis eyes to shut out everything but her words.
"I heard everything," he insisted, again raised upon his elbows. "' Itwas built like unto a dish, and the length was about as long as atree--'"
"What was?"
"The Urim and Thummim."
When he saw that she was really distressed, he tried to cheer her.
"Now don't be discouraged," he said, as they started home in the lateafternoon. "You can't expect to get me roped and hog-tied the very firstday. There's lots of time, and you'll have to keep at it. When I was akid learning to throw a rope, I used to practise on the skull of a steerthat was nailed to a post. At first it didn't look like I could ever doit. I'd forget to let the rope loose from my left hand, or I wouldn'tmake the loop line out flat around my head, or she'd switch off to oneside, or something. But at last I'd get over the horns every time. ThenI learned to do it running past the post; and after that I'd go downaround the corral and practise on some quiet old heifer, and so on. Theonly thing is--never give up."
"But what good does it do if you won't pay attention?"
"Oh, well, I can't learn a new religion all at once. It's like riding anew saddle. You put one on and 'drag the cinches up and lash them, andyou think it's going to be fine, and you don't see why it isn't. But youfind out that you have to ride it a little at a time and break it in.Now, you take a fresh start with me to-morrow."
"Of course I'm going to try."
"And it isn't as if I was regular out-and-out sinful. My adopted father,Ezra Calkins, _he's_ a good man. But, now I think of it, I don't knowwhat church he ever did belong to. He'll go to any of 'em,--don't makeany difference which,--Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic; he sayshe can get all he's looking for out of any of 'em, and he kind of likesto change off now and then. But he's a good man. He won't hire any onethat cusses too bad or is hard on animals, and he won't even let thefreighters work on Sunday. He brought me up not to drink or gamble, orgo round with low folks and all like that, and not to swear except whenyou're driving cattle and have to. 'Keep clean inside and out,' he says,'and then you're safe,' he says. 'Then tie up to some good church forcompany, if you want to, not thinking bad of the others, just becauseyou didn't happen to join them. Or it don't hurt any to graze a littleon all the ranges,' he says. And he sent me to public school and broughtme up pretty well, so you can see I'm not plumb wicked. Now after youget me coming, I may be easier than you think."
She resolved to pray for some special gift to meet his needs. If he werenot really sinful, there was all the more reason why he should be savedinto the Kingdom. The sun went below the western rim of the valley asthey walked, and the cooling air was full of the fresh summer scentsfrom field and garden and orchard.
Down the road behind them, a half-hour later, swung the tall,loose-jointed figure of Seth Wright, his homespun coat across his arm,his bearskin cap in his hand, his heated brow raised to the coolingbreeze. His ruffle of neck whiskers, virtuously white, looked in thedying sunlight quite as if a halo he had worn was dropped under hischin. A little past the Rae place he met Joel returning from thevillage.
"Evening, Brother Rae! You ain't looking right tol'lable."
"It's true, Brother Seth. I've thought lately that I'm standing in theend of my days."
"Peart up, peart up, man! Look at me,--sixty-eight years come December,never an ache nor a pain, and got all my own teeth. Take another wife.That keeps a man young if he's got jedgment." He glanced back toward theRae house.
"And I want to speak to you special about something--this young dandyGentile you're harbouring. Course it's none of my business, but Iwouldn't want one of my girls companying with a Gentile--off up in thatcanon with him, at that--fishing one day, reading a book the next,walking clost together,--and specially not when Brigham had spoke forher. Oh, I know what I'm talking about! I had my mallet and frow upthere two days now, just beyond the lower dry-fork, splitting out shakesfor my new addition, and I seen 'em with my own eyes. You know whatyoung folks is, Elder. That reminds me--I'm going to seal up thatsandy-haired daughter of Bishop Tanner's next week some time; soon as weget the roof on the new part. But I thought I'd speak to you aboutthis--a word to the wise!"
The Wild Ram of the Mountains passed on, whistling a lively air. Thelittle bent man went with slow, troubled steps to his own home. He didknow the way of young people, and he felt that he was beginning to knowthe way of God. Each day one wall or another of his prison house moved alittle in upon him. In the end it would crush. He had given upeverything but Prudence; and now, for his wicked clinging to her, shewas to be taken from him; if not by Brigham, then by this Gentile, whowould of course love her, and who, if he could not make her love him,would be tempted to alienate her by exposing the crime of the man shebelieved to be her father. The walls were closing about him. When hereached the house, they were sitting on the bench outside.
"Sometimes," Follett was saying, "you can't tell at first whether athing is right or wrong. You have to take a long squint, like whenyou're in the woods on a path that ain't been used much lately and hasgot blind. Put your face right close down to it and you can't see a signof a trail; it's the same as the ground both sides, covered with leavesthe same way and not a footprint or anything. But you stand up and lookalong it for fifty feet, and there she is so plain you couldn't miss it.Isn't that so, Mr. Rae?"
Prudence went in, and her father beckoned him a little way from thedoor.
"You're sure you will never tell her anything about--anything, until I'mgone?--You promised me, you know."
"Well, didn't I promise you?"
"Not under any circumstances?"
"You don't keep back anything about 'circumstances' when you make apromise," retorted Mr. Follett.
The Lions of the Lord: A Tale of the Old West Page 38