As the small and weary party of travelers went into camp that night a
messenger rode quietly up, and gave a small packet into the hands of
Stevens. John did not unfasten the packet at once; he had much to do in
making camp and preparing things for the night. But when the stillness
of late evening brooded over them, John drew out from the wrapping a
half dozen letters, among them being two of instructions to himself
from General Wells; among the letters from friends and relatives to the
Utah squad, there was a small missive, written in a delicate, familiar
hand, addressed to Charlie Rose. John immediately went over to the
far side of the camp fire where Charlie lay at ease, and delivered
the small letter. He was quick to note the sudden excitement which
quivered along every nerve of the young fellow, as his fingers grasped
the expected note from Diantha Winthrop. Both knew who had written the
letter. Both were mountaineers; ready of action, but slow to confide.
John took careful notice of all his own instructions, read by the
light of his heaped-up fire. But in and through it all his thoughts
were centered on that missive lying on the heart of Charlie Rose. The
remembrance of that letter lay in his own breast for many days, like a
coal of fire.
As the party emerged, two mornings later, June 7th, 1858, from the
last of the canyon defiles, they were at once struck with the wild
beauty before them. It was a barren valley, through which flowed a
few green-fringed streams, a silvery line of shimmering water on its
western horizon betokening the presence of the blue salt sea, and near
the northern mountains the prosperous beginning of that inland empire,
now dotted here and there, over the checker-board regularity of its
wide-streeted design, with the green of planted fruit and shade trees.
The geometrical fields around and beyond this incipient city amazed the
party with their regularity.
"They plant their whole civilization in accordance with the line and
plummet of order. Irrigation makes the system and regularity a vital
necessity," explained the Governor.
"How distinctly you can see in this wonderful atmosphere," exclaimed
Governor Powell. "I should think that town but a few miles away, and
that lake shimmering in the distance is, how far away? A dozen or so
miles?"
The Governor smiled as he explained distances and details with the
growing enthusiasm which ever belonged to even temporary ownership in
Utah scenery.
"This is the most wonderful place in the world. The eye is not weary,
the brain is not taxed, nor the body aged, by life in this salubrious
climate. And you can see objects many miles away. Indeed the clearness
of the air makes distance a very deceptive matter."
"Make it all a little more civilized," growled the weary Major.
As the party rode down into the streets, the tomb-like silence greeted
them uncannily, and the faces of the Commissioners were puzzled and
anxious.
"What does all this deserted look mean?" asked Major McCulloch.
"Sir," answered the Governor, "I must now inform you of a condition in
this Territory which I had hoped would be over and done with when we
returned to this Valley. Brigham Young told me some weeks ago that he
should vacate every town and hamlet in this Territory. More, he should
set fire to every house, destroy every green thing, and leave behind
him a desolate waste, such as he found when he came here."
"Zounds, man, how can the old rebel dare to do such a thing?" asked the
Major.
"Major McCulloch, Brigham Young may be a fanatic, but he is not nor
never has been, I am persuaded, a rebel. He loves his country as dearly
as ever you did. And, sir, I cannot hear him vilified, even by a Peace
Commissioner." The tone of gentle quiet in the last words robbed them
of their ironical sting, and the irascible old soldier grunted as he
shifted his position on his tired steed.
"These people have been most unjustly treated, so they think, and if
you are to be peacemakers, you must meet them on their own footing, and
not on any stilted plane of your own setting up."
The silent streets, the empty houses, the absence of even a dog or
other animal was very mournful, and not a man in the party but felt the
pressure of that heavy grief. The rattle of their horses' feet echoed
far up the empty street. Zion had fled!
"What a pity there were not poet or artist here," said Governor Powell,
as they rode with noisy echoes along the silent roads. Overhead
the young cottonwood trees were throwing delicate shadows upon the
trickling streams that coursed down by every sidewalk. In the well
fenced city lots, surrounding the comfortable but lonely and deserted
houses, had been planted generous kitchen gardens, now withering and
dun in the sweltering sun. The forge of the blacksmith was silent and
black through its widely opened door, and most of the windows and doors
were barred and closed, while the flaunting weeds in all the streets
and sidewalks bore eloquent evidence of the desertion of man.
"This is most damned lonesome, Governor Cumming. Not much like your
gaudy pictures drawn out in camp."
"I had hoped that Brigham Young would repent himself; for I promised to
make peace and to keep it."
"Pretty bold of you, sir, I must say, sir." And the old soldier
sputtered with annoyance.
"Major, I brought my wife in from Camp Scott, as you know, last month.
And when we came into this deserted city, partially deserted even
then, she could not withhold her tears. She wept like a child to see
this terrible sight. She besought me as only a tender woman could, to
do everything in my power to bring this unhappy and wronged people
back into the homes that their toil and sacrifices had created in this
desert wild. And, sir, it is because of those tears, and that tender
pleading, that you are here today. I have neither taken sleep nor food,
except by necessity, till President Buchanan has listened to my appeal
and has sent you gentlemen out to undo this most awful blunder."
"Sir," answered Governor Powell, with a note of reverence in his voice,
"your judgment is no less to be commended than your sentiment."
"Quite right, sir; quite right," and the bluff old Major blew heartily
at his bugle of a nose. "I wish we may see all this unhappy business
well settled. But, sir, I don't like this damned loneliness!"
And neither did any of them.