Our Mormon friends who used to come to our house did not come any more.
There were two who sometimes came in a few minutes, but never
remained long. Everybody was anxious to know what the king would do
about his people when he came back. Many of the Mormons believed Strang
would take no notice of the refusal of some of his elders to practice
polygamy, while others thought that the man who hoped to have Strang's
place would influence him to make them suffer the penalty, which the
Mormons themselves told us was death, this elder contending severe
measures was the only way to enforce obedience to the law.
[Illustration: THE KING'S HIGHWAY. BEAVER ISLAND.]
Having already organized a band of forty thieves, these men were being
trained to go out and do all the robbing from the Gentiles they saw fit
to do. The two men who headed the band were brothers and were large and
powerful men, Isaac and John Pierce. They were well suited to do such
work. The place they chose to secrete their stolen goods was a long
point at the lower end of Beaver Island, distant about three miles from
the harbor. This place was called by them "Rocky Mountain Point." Being
an out-of-the-way place they would not be seen secreting much of their
plunder.